Minnesota Twins Starting Pitcher Is Having Elite An Spring Training

The Minnesota Twins traded away a lot of key pieces at last years' MLB trade deadline, such as Carlos Correa, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran. 

However, the best return that Minnesota got back in one of these trades was by far the Philadelphia Phillies, who traded catching prospect Eduardo Tait, and an extremely talented pitcher in Mick Abel. 

With veteran pitcher Pablo Lopez ruled out for the entire season, Minnesota's starting pitching rotation is looking quite thin. 

Luckily for Minnesota, Abel has performed at an ELITE level throughout spring training, and is looking to be in a prime position to breakout in 2026. 

Abel was a former top prospect in Philadelphia's farm system, but struggled to find any sort of consistent success at the big league level. In 25 innings for Philadelphia, Abel posted a subpar 5.04 ERA, 1.36 WHIP with 21 strikeouts. 

Although the numbers weren't great, Abel's stuff is what kept him as such a highly touted pitching prospects. However, Philadelphia would ultimately make a decision to trade him along with Edurardo Tait to Minnesota for all-star reliever Jhoan Duran. 

Maybe Abel wasn't ever going to figure it out at the major leagues? Or, what if he just needed a change of scenery? 

Abel's rookie campaign for Minnesota wasn't good, and honestly, it was worse than his time in Philadelphia. 

In only 14 innings, Abel posted a 8.36 ERA in four games (two starts), with a 1.78 WHIP and 18 strikeouts. 

Although the numbers were poor, everyone understood that Abel would take a little bit to settle in with his new team. Fast forward to spring training 2026, and Abel is settled in and is looking like a future star in the making. 

In 18 innings (five starts) during spring training, Abel has posted a 2.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, with 23 strikeouts (11.5 K/9). With a campaign like this, you could argue that Abel is having the best spring training campaign out of any starting pitcher. 

Abel has found consistent success with his high 90's fastball location, using it as a way to get ahead in counts. He then uses his curveball/slider combination to rack up the strikeouts, and has been extremely successful in doing so. 

If Abel can end spring training on a high note, I don't see why he couldn't end the regular season and Minnesota's second best starting pitcher behind Joe Ryan. Abel has all the tools in the tool shed, and with multiple injuries to the rotation, he will have every opportunity to establish himself as a mainstay for Minnesota.