The right-hander hasn't pitched for the Twins since April 14 against Boston.
Coming into Saturday, Mick Abel sounded like a pitcher who could finally see the end of a frustrating recovery.
After nearly two months on the injured list with elbow inflammation, the Minnesota Twins right-hander had joined the club in Arizona, completed two rehab starts and appeared firmly in line to rejoin the rotation. Minnesota had not yet announced a starter for Sunday's series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but all signs pointed toward Abel being that answer.
A few hours later, those plans were suddenly back on hold.
According to Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune, Abel suffered a setback after throwing a 20-pitch bullpen session Friday. He will no longer return from the injured list this week and is scheduled to undergo an MRI once the Twins return to Minnesota.
The development comes at a particularly cruel time given how close Abel appeared to be.
Just before news of the setback surfaced, Abel spoke about the lengthy recovery process that began in April, admitting he never expected the injury to sideline him for months.
"The reason I love this game is because I love competing. There's nothing better in the world," said Abel, via Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press. "It's always what I've loved to do. It's very frustrating not being able to do that, but we're at the back end now."
That last part stands out differently now.
Abel's recovery had already included one detour. During the rehab process, he experienced soreness following a simulated bullpen session and eventually received a cortisone shot before resuming his throwing program. Looking back on that moment, Abel described knowing immediately that something wasn't right.
"With anything injury-wise, I think sometimes there's a feeling you have in your gut when you know something's right (and) definitely when there's something wrong," Abel said, via Helfand. "Coming out of that, it was just wrong, and we re-evaluated it."
Abel reinforced that optimism Tuesday with five innings for Triple-A St. Paul, allowing just one earned run while striking out five and throwing only 61 pitches. The right-hander was still touching 96 mph in his final inning. The outing looked very much like the final step before returning to the major leagues.
Instead, Minnesota finds itself waiting for another round of answers. Having spent weeks piecing together their rotation while Bailey Ober remains sidelined, and Abel's return was expected to provide some much-needed stability. Before landing on the injured list, he had begun showing exactly why Minnesota targeted him in last year's trade with Philadelphia, throwing 13 consecutive scoreless innings with 16 strikeouts across his final two starts.
Now, the focus shifts away from potential return dates and back toward medical evaluations.
For a pitcher who spent Saturday talking about being at the "back end" of rehab, the road back suddenly became uncertain again.
