Fortunately for the Philadelphia Phillies, their starting pitching has been strong so far this season, because there is not much coming through the minors to help them out.

Top pitching prospect Andrew Painter is on the shelf after Tommy John surgery, Griff McGarry’s struggles as a starter prompted the team to convert him to being a reliever, and Mick Abel has not exactly been blowing away opponents.

Abel’s progress can only be described as baby steps. He made the third start of his career at the Triple-A level last Friday against the Durham Bulls and like a baby’s steps, it was wobbly, but at least the kid made it to his destination without falling.

The 22-year-old lasted five innings and gave up six hits, two walks and four runs. The cold, blustery weather certainly didn’t help the right-hander, and actually led directly to a run in the second inning when the wind turned what appeared to be a routing fly ball off the bat into a triple, and then Abel allowed a single to produce Durham’s first run of the game.

In his three starts with Lehigh Valley – the first of which came late last season – Abel is 1-1 with a lofty 5.56 ERA and has allowed 13 hits and nine walks in 11 1/3 innings. In his two starts this season, Abel has a 2.10 WHIP, and opponents are batting .286 against him.

Publicly, the Phillies aren’t concerned with the results, and they still believe Abel will become the quality major league pitcher they thought he would when they drafted him with the 15th overall pick in the 2020 Draft.

In this day of wanting immediate results, the norm is for pitchers to simply take a little while sometimes before truly adjusting to pitching above the college level.

The only real problem is that with Taijuan Walker still not back from the IL, the Phillies would find themselves scuffling for a replacement should another injury beset the rotation.

Right now, the most likely replacement would be David Buchanan, who turns 35 next month and has not pitched in the majors since 2015. Buchanan offset an ugly first start with a gem last week on the mound at Lehigh Valley when he threw eight innings, allowing five hits and no walks in a win over Durham.

Max Castillo (0-0, 4.82) and Tyler Phillips (1-1, 3.78) are two other starters that the Phillies could consider if needed.

THE WRONG KIND OF HISTORY … Two players who won’t be seeing the mound at Citizens Bank Park anytime soon are Esteban Quiroz and Cal Stevenson. The two are position players, but were called on to pitch last Tuesday in an embarrassing 28-10 loss against Durham. The pair allowed 11 earned runs in their combined inning of work against the Bulls, with Quiroz being charged with nine earned runs in just one-third of an inning. The loss was the most runs allowed by the IronPigs in a game in their history, and also set franchise records for runs in an inning (11), hits allowed in an inning (10), and equaled their greatest run deficit in a game (18).

LUPLOW ON A HIGH … Jordan Luplow, a 30-year-old journeyman type player, has three home runs this season, and they have come in the last three games. In that span, Luplow is 6-for-13 (.462) and has upped his season average from .385 to .410. Luplow has hits in 10 of the 12 games he has played this season for the IronPigs.

HOT BAT, PART 2 … Scott Kingery had one hit in his first nine at-bats to start the season, but April has been very productive with the veteran picking up hits in six of his seven games with a triple and three home runs, two of which came in one game last week at Coca-Cola Park. Since the calendar turned to April, Kingery is hitting .375 (9-for-24) with three home runs, seven RBIs and three stolen bases. Thanks to Luplow and Kingery, Lehigh Valley had back-to-back games where it had three home runs as a team. The pair both homered in the first inning of Friday’s game and then after walking and stealing second, Kingery scored on Luplow’s two-out single in the eighth inning.

ZIPPO, NIX, NADA … The IronPigs have three pitchers who have yet to allow an earned run. Michael Mercado has six innings of shutout relief; Jose Ruiz has five and Ryan Burr has three. As a team, Lehigh Valley has a 6.38 ERA, but if you remove the ninth inning in the 28-10 loss to Durham, it drops to a still horrid, but not as horrid, 5.47.