The 23-year-old right-hander was with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in Syracuse this past week when he learned he’d be making his long-awaited Major League debut. Abel was tapped to start Sunday’s series finale against the Pirates at Citizens Bank Park, and the news caught him completely off guard.
The announcement came during a team meeting held by IronPigs manager Anthony Contreras, who brought the entire squad together amid their impressive seven-game win streak.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” Abel said. “He started talking about how the team’s playing well — not getting too high or too low — and then suddenly says, ‘We’ve got something big to celebrate today.’ Then he said I was getting the call-up. I was just in shock.”
It took a moment for the magnitude of it all to sink in — a long-anticipated dream now becoming reality.
And while it’s only one start, for Abel, it marks the thrilling first step in what he hopes will be a long career in the big leagues.
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