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Mick Abel, RHP, Phillies: At this time last year, Phillies righthander Mick Abel had a 5.40 ERA at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He was coming off a start where he walked five in six innings. His season would soon get worse, as his ERA climbed above 6.00 in his next start and stayed there almost all season, as he finished 3-12, 6.46.

On Sunday, Abel outdueled Paul Skenes, throwing six scoreless innings as the Phillies beat the Pirates 1-0. Abel allowed five hits and walked no one while striking out nine in his MLB debut.

What’s changed in the past year? Almost everything. Abel sat at 97 mph and touched 99 on Sunday. In his start a year and a day ago, he sat at 94 mph and topped out at 97 mph. Abel now has control of his full arsenal, but especially his fastballs. He threw 35 of 44 (79.5%) of his four-seamers and sinkers for strikes on Sunday, getting six whiffs on his four-seamer and two on his sinker.

The Phillies’ 2020 first-round pick spotted his changeup and slider as needed, but he was able to largely rely on his fastball.

This was a great first start, but it was also a continuation of what he’s shown in the minors this year. Abel was 5-2, 2.53 in eight starts for Lehigh Valley with a 9.9% walk percentage. Last year, he had a 15.1% walk percentage.

Jac Caglianone, 1B, Royals: Caglianone is moving up to the highest level of the minors. After Sunday's game, the Royals announced that the No. 33 prospect in the game is moving to Triple-A Omaha. Caglianone hit .322/.394/.553 with nine home runs in 38 games with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Caglianone has also started playing some outfield, as he's played one game in left field and six games in right field, all of which came in his last 21 games. On the same day, the Royals also promoted 2021 first-rounder Frank Mozzicato to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Jurrangelo Cijntje, SHP, Mariners: No one in the minors may have a more misleading ERA than switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje. Cijntje lowered his ERA to 4.32 with six scoreless innings against Vancouver. He walked two, hit two batters and allowed one hit while striking out five. Cijntje's ERA is misleading because nine of the 16 runs he's allowed this year have come in his three relief appearances where's he told to pitch to everyone as a lefthander. Cijntje has dominated as a predominantly righthanded starter. In those starts, he's 3-1, 2.01 with a .151 opponents average and a 0.96 WHIP. As a lefty reliever he's 0-1, 40.50 with seven walks, two home runs and four hits in two innings. As a lefty facing righthanded hitters, hitters hit .300/.417/.700 against him. As a righthanded pitcher, coming into today, hitters were hitting .171/.315/.355 against Cijntje.

Mike Sirota, OF, Dodgers: The Dodgers promoted Sirota to High-A Great Lakes earlier this week. The jump to the Midwest League has only further heated up what was already one of the hottest hitters in the minors. Sirota went 3-for-5 with his second home run in three High-A games. Sirota drove in two runs with a third-inning single. He drove in two more in the fifth with a home run to right center field onto the grassy berm. Sirota leads all full-season MiLB hitters with a .745 slugging percentage and a 1.214 OPS. His .382 batting average is third-best in the minors.

Kendall George, OF, Dodgers: On the same team, George tied a Midwest League record with six stolen bases on Sunday. George went 6-for-7 on steals, as part of a 2-for-3 day where he walked twice and scored twice. George now has 19 steals in 24 attempts this year. He's currently third in the Midwest League in stolen bases.

Zebby Matthews, RHP, Twins: In his first inning of his first MLB start of the season, Twins righthander Zebby Matthews struck out Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio and William Contreras on just 11 pitches while touching 98 mph. It was a great start, but it soon turned sideways for Matthews. He gave up singles to three of the first four batters he faced in the second to allow a run. After once again striking out Turang and Chourio in the third, Matthews got uncharacteristically wild. He walked three straight batters to load the bases, and then gave up back-to-back singles to drive in three runs. He did manage to finish the inning, but was pulled after that inning. Matthews allowed five hits and four runs, including three walks in three innings. In the past two seasons, Matthews has walked 16 batters in 129.2 innings in the minors. He's walked 14 in 40.2 innings in the majors.

Editor’s Picks

RoboScout Rankings: Everyone’s favorite robotic tool returns with its top prospects at every full-season level, and identifies more than 30 prospects catching its attention over the last week. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Each day, we’ll pick a prospect that has our attention.

Braxton Bragg, RHP, Orioles: Bragg held Double-A Akron to two hits and four walks in five scoreless innings on Sunday. He struck out six. It's yet another exceptional outing in a dominating season for Bragg. He's 2-1, 1.21 since he was promoted to Double-A Chesapeake, and he's 4-1, 0.70 overall to lead all MiLB pitchers in ERA. His ERA is a bit misleading as he's allowed nine unearned runs, but the righthander has a 0.96 WHIP and .165 opponents average. He's added a tick of velocity this year, and he's throwing tons of strikes, with a 68% strike percentage that is well above-average.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Daniel Susac (A’s) and Joseph Sullivan (Astros) each had two-homer games on Sunday

• Roman Anthony had a pair of doubles Sunday for Triple-A Worcester. He had just two extra-base hits in his previous 18 games dating back to April 25.

• Blue Jays RHP Juaron Watts-Brown now his 62 strikeouts in 37.1 innings for High-A Vancouver after punching out eight more batters yesterday.