Phillies prospects update: Is Mick Abel’s time nearing? Goals for speedy Emaarion Boyd in 2024.

We wrap up our look at the Phillies' future with a pitcher knocking on the door of the major leagues, and an outfielder with elite tools but work ahead.

The Phillies selected pitcher Mick Abel, 22, in the first round of the 2020 draft.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published Jan. 31, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

For the fourth and final week of our Phillies prospect update, we’ll focus on a player you likely know — starting pitcher Mick Abel — and one you might not — outfielder Emaarion Boyd.

Abel, 22, was taken in the first round of the 2020 MLB draft. He ranks No. 2 on FanGraphs’ top 26 Phillies prospects list, No. 2 on MLB.com’s 2023 Phillies prospect rankings, and No. 49 on MLB.com’s overall top 100 prospects list.

Boyd, 20, doesn’t have the name recognition as Abel, but he has been inching up the organization’s prospect leaderboards. He ranks No. 14 on FanGraphs’ list and No. 12 on MLB.com’s list.

Here’s a look at their 2023 seasons, what they’re working on, and their goals for 2024.

Mick Abel

The Phillies do not have much starting pitching depth, but Abel could help with that soon. During baseball’s winter meetings, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Abel was unlikely to break camp with the club, but he didn’t rule out making his big league debut at some point in 2024.

“I’ve been with young guys who are very talented, and you never can tell when they all of a sudden — boom — find it,” Dombrowski said in December. “He does have that type of talent.

“But I don’t want to put that on him because we’re set with our rotation, too. So it’s a good spot. But sure, I hope that we’re in that spot where we see him at some time during the year because he’s pitched well enough to do so.”

For Abel to get there, he’ll have to improve his command. His walk rate rose to 13.5% at double-A Reading last season, after reducing the rate in 2022, his second pro season. But Abel began to locate his pitches better toward the end of the season, thanks in part to a few tweaks he made to his pitch mix.

He added a two-seamer around mid-August and replaced his sweeper with a gyro slider around the minor league All-Star break. He threw both pitches in high school but got away from them when he transitioned into pro ball.

“[The two-seam] has been huge for me,” Abel said. “It’s a really good option for me to righties, just so I can go in, mix that with — maybe I go four-seam up, two-seam in. It’s just another look for the hitters.

“And the gyro slider is something I can throw for a strike. I can throw it below the zone. I can tunnel it with my curveball, tunnel it with my fastball on the outer half of the plate to righties or inside to lefties if need be. I think it’s a really good weapon in my arsenal.”

Abel posted a 4.94 ERA with a 13.7% walk rate in his first 18 starts last season, but those numbers dropped to a 1.17 ERA in four starts from Aug. 23-Sept. 13, with a 12.6% walk rate. He finished the season with triple-A Lehigh Valley and will likely start there in 2024.

Another big change for Abel was working with mental performance coach Brian Cain. He was connected to Cain through some friends and has been talking to him every two weeks.

“He’s really coached me on building consistency and understanding that with everything that I do, there needs to be intent,” Abel said. “It’s more so just about controlling the controllables, intent, confidence and consistency.

“Before, when things were going south, I would think about mechanics, about whether my arm path is getting too long, or whatever else. Now, it’s, let’s take a deep breath, let’s find my reset, let’s find my focal point somewhere on the field before the game. When I first get out there on the mound, find that focal point, take a deep breath, and reset. And throughout the game, I can come back to that. I can stop and find my focal point, breathe, reset. It’s done really good things for me.”

Time will tell how those changes will impact Abel in 2024 and beyond. But for now, he is optimistic.

“I’m really excited for next season,” Abel said. “I think for me, the goal is to be as consistent as I can and just be who I am, not trying to be somebody else.”

Emaarion Boyd

Boyd was 5-foot-11, 155 pounds when he arrived in Clearwater after being drafted in the 11th round out of high school in 2022. He looks quite different these days.

“Now he’s at 187,” said assistant general manager Preston Mattingly. “He looks like a different player, honestly.”

Boyd, who spent last year with low-A Clearwater, makes a lot of contact and has a good feel for the strike zone, but he historically has not hit the ball hard, and often hits it on the ground. His ground-ball rate of 60% in 2023 ranked second in the organization behind Justin Crawford’s 69.7%.

Nevertheless, the Phillies are hopeful that the muscle Boyd continues to add will pay dividends at the plate. He also has been working with hitting development coach Luke Murton to better identify pitches that are easier to hit in the air — mainly pitches at the top of the zone.

“I think the biggest thing with Boyd is continuing to build on his strengths and improve his weaknesses,” Murton said. “With the ground-ball rate, it is more of an approach-driven adjustment than a physical one. Understanding how to pick out certain pitches in certain counts and put your best swing on the ball. As he continues to grow in picking out better pitches it will more than likely result in a lower ground-ball percentage.

“There are certain pitches that are easier to hit in the air. He does a very good job of putting the ball in play. As he continues to develop, he will have a better understanding of what pitch he needs to get to hit in the gap.”

Added Mattingly: “[With the added muscle] he’ll hit the ball harder, of course, but I also think it’ll give him a better understanding of the potential he has to hit for some power. I think when you see the results coming in, whether it’s exit velocities or just the quality of contact, I think you start to believe you can take more chances on balls in the inner half of the plate, to try and hit a ball in the seats, versus having to stick to the line drives and ground balls. I think with that added strength, he can take more chances to get balls in the air to the pull side.”

Mattingly characterizes Boyd as an elite runner — he stole 56 bases in 74 attempts last year — and an elite defender. Because Boyd overlapped with Crawford for much of the 2023 season at Clearwater, he spent the bulk of his time in left field, but that hasn’t changed the way the organization views him.

“He didn’t get as many opportunities to play there last year, but we still view him as a center fielder,” Mattingly said.

The goal for 2024 will be for Boyd to continue to add strength while working on lifting the ball more consistently. It’s possible he opens the season with Crawford at high-A Jersey Shore, which could cut down on his playing time. But given the Phillies’ history at this position, managing multiple center-field prospects seems like a good problem to have.