Minneapolis – The Minnesota Twins are one step closer to filling the fifth slot in the rotation. Mick Abel has been out since April 15 with right elbow inflammation and threw a two-inning simulated game on Thursday.
Abel faced Austin Martin, James Outman, and Alex Jackson and threw 35 pitches in the simulated game, striking out the side in his second simulated inning. Abel threw a ‘touch and feel’ bullpen session on Tuesday. Now the Twins will wait to see how his body responds on Friday before deciding on his next steps.
“I think just being able to have hitters in the box again, it feels really, really good, and really nice,” Abel said following his outing. “The body feels great, too, so I can’t complain.”
“[It] put a smile on my face,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton on seeing Abel throw on the mound again. “If he walks in tomorrow and tells me that he’s healthy, then it’s even more of a smile.”
Abel touched up to 96 and occasionally 97 MPH with his fastball, and his body responded well to the action after coming off the mound. He felt he also checked a lot of boxes he hadn’t been able to until he threw on the mound again, setting him up for success.
“Today, it was just strikes,” said Abel. “I walked A-Mar the first at-bat, and I’m like, all right, I probably have to shake off a little rust. After that, it just kind of fell back into place. I kind of kicked my ass mentally after that. I was like, all right, let’s get right back into routine and right back into the pitch by pitch.”
Having been out for two months and having a setback with a cortisone shot in early May, getting to this point in the recovery process was a major sigh of relief for Mick Abel.
He’s had injuries that have previously shut him down for a full season back in 2021 with an undisclosed injury. With nearly four months still on the calendar, he looks forward to bouncing back and bringing stability to a short-staffed Twins rotation.
“I’m like, all right, let’s take this time and get healthy,” Abel said. “Now, I have the reward of competition. That was kind of a kick in the butt early, but afterward, I was able to take it day by day, take care of myself, show up here, and make sure that I’m here for my teammates even though I can’t really play or do anything. That always gave me something to look forward to.”
“Watching him go out today and be able to execute was very important,” said Shelton. “Because I think what we saw him do early in the season shows how good a young starting pitcher or starting pitcher he can be at this level.”
