The Philadelphia Phillies, despite having Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, and Cristopher Sanchez, may have trouble with starting pitching depth.

In the regular season, Taijuan Walker was erratic, and in the postseason, he was essentially nonexistent.

Andrew Painter, a promising talent, is probably going to miss the entire 2024 campaign due to injury.

It will eventually be necessary to have another arm.

This could be Mick Abel’s dream scenario.

The 22-year-old was ranked No. 49 on MLB.com’s list of the Top 100 prospects and was chosen by the Phillies in the first round of the 2020 draft.

Dave Dombrowski, President of Baseball Operations, gave a glowing speech about Abel during the most recent Winter Meetings.

I’ve worked with some really great young men, but you never know when they’ll strike it lucky. That kind of talent is definitely his. However, because our rotation is set, I don’t want to place that on him. However, given that he has pitched well enough to do so, I do hope that we are in a position where we may see him at some point throughout the year.”

Last season, Abel pitched with some success at Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Double-A Reading. He had trouble controlling his command, though, particularly when he was breaking pitches.

Abel had four excellent outings in August and September with a 1.17 ERA.

To begin the 2024 campaign, Philadelphia should continue to have Abel throw every five days in the Lehigh Valley or Reading. Allow him to keep honing his command and gaining self-assurance.

Abel was selected by the Phillies, who had high hopes for him.

They still carry out.

The gifted pitcher will use this year to gauge his potential and see if he can eventually break through, like some of Philadelphia’s other prospects, including Orion Kerkering and Johan Rojas, did last year.

Watch Abel’s development closely, and don’t be shocked if you see him throwing a pitch at Citizens Bank Park this season.