After nine years of sporting minor championships, a battle with shoulder injuries and even retirement, the No. 1 pick in the 2013 draft made his MLB debut on Wednesday at the age of 30. The Philadelphia Phillies called Appel out of the bullpen for the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves, falling 4-1. It was not a state of high leverage in a game that Atlanta eventually won, but Appel looked fine on an MLB mound while allowing a single key and keeping the Braves out of the standings. Recorded his first MLB strikeout in the process. Appel’s first MLB court caused a lineout in the first base by outfielder Marcell Ozuna. Catcher William Contreras then scored a single for the first Appel hit allowed. Then came the time when Appel definitely enjoyed it the most. He scored 1-2 on Adam Duvall out before freezing him with a fast 97 mph ball in the outside corner for his first MLB strikeout. Catcher JT Realmuto throws the ball to a Phillies ballboy for safekeeping. Apel broke a smile on the embankment. Second baseman Philip Gosselin completed the inning with outs and Appel completed his MLB debut with a hit and no run while recording a strikeout in a pitched inning. He threw 10 pitches, six of them for hits. It’s a moment that Appel left in 2018, when he retired from baseball amid discussions that he was “perhaps the biggest bust in MLB history”. Mark Appel made his debut in the regular season in an MLB suit on Wednesday. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
The delayed route of Appel to MLB
The Houston Astros picked up Appel from Stanford in the 2013 draft pick of the year. Instead, he spent five seasons working on the minors, producing a 5.06 ERA and 1.52 WHIP. A sore shoulder that needed surgery in 2016 eventually pushed Appel to retire from baseball in 2018. He returned to the game in 2021 in the Phillies secondary system and talked about his struggles involving depression. He continued to fight on the embankment, creating 6.06 ERA and 1,612 in 71.1 innings in Double-A and Triple-A in 2021. He found his way with 1.93 ERA and 0.929 WHIP for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 28 inning time. So when the Phillies needed bullpen help, they called Appel on Saturday. Four days later, Appel probably won more chances to prove himself with the indifferent score against the Braves. And he can finally call himself an MLB pitcher.
