This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki¡¯s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Everybody expected Mick Abel to be placed on the Phillies¡¯ 40-man roster last fall.

But nothing is official until it¡¯s official. Abel got the official word in mid-November, after being called into Preston Mattingly¡¯s office at Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Fla.

Mattingly spent the past three seasons running the organization¡¯s player development department before being promoted to general manager. He thanked Abel for his hard work and leadership. He congratulated him for throwing 100-plus innings in each of the past three Minor League seasons.

Then, he told him the good news.

¡°Really excited for your future ahead,¡± Mattingly said. ¡°You¡¯ve been through a lot. It¡¯s really exciting to think about what you¡¯re going to do going forward.¡±

The Phillies selected Abel, 23, with the 15th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. He remains one of the Phillies¡¯ top prospects (No. 5), although he no longer ranks among MLB Pipeline¡¯s Top 100 prospects in baseball. (He ranked 48th in 2023.) Abel¡¯s climb to the big leagues has slowed because of his struggles with command. He went 3-12 with a 6.46 ERA in 24 starts last season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He struck out 117, but he walked 78 in 108 2/3 innings.

¡°I definitely think he¡¯s still in the mix,¡± Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham said earlier this month. ¡°He¡¯s still young.¡±

Abel recently attended MLB¡¯s Rookie Career Development Program, alongside Phillies prospects like Jean Cabrera and Mois¨¦s Chace, who were also added to the 40-man roster. Afterward, Abel spoke with MLB.com about joining the 40-man roster and the upcoming season:

MLB.com: Did the news about the 40-man change your day at all?

Abel: It totally did. I mean, all throughout last year, that was one thing that I had thought about when I was struggling. I¡¯m like, man, this was the year to kind of put myself in that conversation and I thought I blew it. Having the conversations that I had with everybody in our system ¡­ I got a lot of confidence from that. And just knowing that the team still believes in me -- I still believe in myself, that¡¯s one thing -- but the team still believing, it feels really good. It lit a fire under my butt this offseason to push myself a little harder.

MLB.com: Caleb said he¡¯s talked to you quite a bit this offseason. What have those conversations been like?

Abel: It¡¯s been great. Everything that he says is very true. It¡¯s not getting me away from analytics and data, because that stuff is always going to be there. It¡¯s more just the way of being, how I talk to myself on the mound, how I¡¯m going about my routine on a day-to-day basis. Going back to that consistency thing. It¡¯s something I feel I¡¯ve had in the past and then get away from it sometimes. That doesn¡¯t lead to success. Inevitably, you¡¯re going to find yourself in low points. I saw plenty of that last year. It¡¯s been a lot about how I go about my business in a professional manner. It¡¯s really the art of pitching and not so much the numbers.

MLB.com: Caleb said something like, ¡°What¡¯s it like not to try so hard? ¡­ Maybe a little different way of being.¡± It sounds like a way of saying don¡¯t think so much. What does ¡°maybe a little different way of being¡± mean to you?

Abel: It¡¯s just not overthinking everything and being able to take in information and process it in a very simple manner and decide, is this going to help me or is this going to hurt me? ¡­ The key to it all is just simplifying the approach, not overthinking, knowing that I¡¯m on a mound to compete.

MLB.com: He said his conversations with you are like the ones he has with Zack Wheeler. It¡¯s nothing fancy, nothing analytically driven. It¡¯s, how do I get really good at getting hitters out? What do I need to do more of? Less of?

Abel: It¡¯s literally just simplifying everything to where all that matters is getting guys out and understanding why something happens because of a certain feel.

MLB.com: Mattingly, Cotham and player development director Luke Murton have each mentioned your workload the past three years and how it will serve you well in the future. Do you agree?

Abel: That¡¯s something I take pride in. ¡­ I think if there¡¯s one thing that I¡¯ve done really well, it¡¯s staying healthy. I had my hiccup in 2021 with my shoulder, but since then I feel like I¡¯ve put pedal to the metal as far as understanding, ¡®OK, this is how I need to recover, this is how I need to go about my days in a good way.¡¯ ¡­ Yeah, the results haven¡¯t been there, but later on I can look back and say, ¡®I went through three years of that.¡¯ Or, ¡®I went through three straight years without missing a start really.¡¯ ¡­ It¡¯s just all that more experience under my belt, all these little lessons, all these little failures that I can look back on and say, ¡®Wow, I can understand these scenarios now when I¡¯m pitching in games. I¡¯ve been through this before.¡¯ I¡¯ve had all these innings to learn from that.¡±