After only getting an occasional start in his first three seasons at Virginia, Andrew Abbott got the opportunity to join the rotation in 2021 and he dominated, posting a 2.87 ERA with 162 strikeouts in 106.2 innings. That led to the Cincinnati Reds selecting him in the 2nd round and then he would thrown 13.0 innings before the season came to an end.
This article was first sent out to those who support the site over on Patreon. Early access is one of the perks that you could get be joining up as a Patron and supporting the work done here at RedsMinorLeagues.com.
When 2022 began the Reds sent the left-handed starter to High-A Dayton. Andrew Abbott’s first start was solid as he allowed a run in 4.0 innings with two walks and four strikeouts. He followed that up with absolute dominance over the next month as he allowed one run in 23.0 innings with five walks and 36 strikeouts. That was all that Cincinnati needed to see and Abbott was promoted to Double-A Chattanooga in early May.
The first start with the Lookouts continued the dominance as the lefty struck out 12 batters without a walk in 5.2 shutout innings. Things were solid after that for the next five starts as Abbott posted a 3.91 ERA in 25.1 innings that spanned that stretch. But on June 18th he had what would be the worst start of the season as he allowed eight runs and only recorded two outs before exiting the game.
After that things didn’t get too much better. For the next 10 weeks he would struggle to find consistency as he posted a 6.02 ERA in 10 starts and walked 28 batters to go along with 57 strikeouts in 43.1 innings for the Lookouts. That span ran through the end of August. With the season coming to an end, the lefty turned things around in his final three games as he didn’t allow a single run in 16.0 innings during September, walked just three batters, and picked up 21 strikeouts to close the year out.
For all 2022 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Andrew Abbott Scouting Report
Position: Left-handed pitcher | B/T: L/L
Height: 6′ 0″ | Weight: 180 lbs | Acquired: 2nd Round, 2021 Draft
Born: June 1, 1999
Fastball | A pitch that works in the 92-94 MPH range that will touch higher on occasion.
Curveball | An above-average breaking ball that he throws in the 78-80 MPH range.
Change Up | An average to slightly above-average pitch.
When Andrew Abbott throws strikes he’s been very, very good. You could see that in the stats he put up at both the beginning and the end of the season. But when he battled consistency with finding the strikezone, like he did in the middle of the year, he struggled to keep runs off of the board.
While he had plenty of success against lefties on the year (.556 OPS), he was solid against righties (.798 OPS against him in Double-A). His BABIP was high on the year at .343. That’s not always a sign of a guy being unlucky, but when a guy also racks up a lot of strikeouts along the way, it’s probably a sign that he was a bit unlucky. Perhaps some of that can be related to his inconsistency with location that also showed up in the walk totals.
Abbott has moved quickly, spending much of his time in his first full season at the Double-A level. It was an aggressive promotion, though one that wasn’t entirely unearned as he simply wasn’t being challenged in Dayton. Hitters at the next level did challenge him, though, and towards the end of the season he found some success. If he can build on that and find some more consistency in 2023 he could move up quickly.
Video
Interesting Stat on Andrew Abbott
He was dominant against left-handed hitters, holding them to a .219/.278/.277 line without allowing a home run in 169 plate appearances.
This is a pitcher I’m excited about. High strikeout rate, 3 very good pitcher, high babip, and left handed. Young lefties without a dominant fastball need time. Too often teams give up on them. He won’t be successful right away at the major league level. If given time he will adjust and reward us.
Hard not to see Abbott as a staple of the rotation for many years—clean delivery, sharp breaking ball, seemingly durable. I like that he threw 118 innings this year….well positioned to make a late 2023 or 2024 debut.
I like Abbott. After some thinking, I think I’d start him back in AA to start with. If he starts like he finished 2022, promote him. I could see the argument to start in Louisville, but can also see not rushing him.
I’m with you about starting Abbott in AA. If he split time in AA, and AAA this year he could be ready for his call up sometime in 24. The AA rotation should have a lot of promising arms in it.
He has really not built up his innings yet to be a full year starter at the mlb level yet. He probably looks like an approximately 143 max in 2023. Unless he gets the nod out of Spring Training or in May he probably won’t be in Cincinnati until 2024.
Shades of Travis Wood, although I think Wood threw a bit harder earlier in his career.
I would love to see Abbott, Phillips, De La Cruz, McLain, McGarry and CES spend the year in AA and/or AAA and then all be in Cincinnati on opening day.
Steer, Williamson and Stoudt should make their debuts sometime this year.
I agree with you on the pitchers Stock. I don’t on the hitters. Most of those guys need to see some time – maybe later – in GABP in 2023.
I think we overthink the aspect of whether a young hitter is ready or not as Reds fans. The quicker a good hitter starts to see major league sliders and cutters the better off I say. There are lots of young hitters coming up after partial years in AA and doing just fine. Doesn’t mean they are going to have an OPS of 800 but when they are competing with guys that can’t get there OPS to 700 I see no reason to delay it.
Now if they can’t play defense well enough of a reason to keep them down.
There used to be some common wisdom as to how many minor league at bats were needed before a hitter advanced to the ML’s. I cannot remember but do recall it was substantial and was utilized for the likes of Votto, Bruce, Frazier. One thing I liked when those guys were promoted was that they were definitely ready.
It should go without saying that every prospect is different. EDLC timeline is faster than most. Hopefully we got the guys in place to decide the best time to bring up these guys.
I am slightly worried that we are going to be bringing too many prospects up at the same time. Large numbers in, large numbers out. To me this will only lead to a short window of competition.
I am in the slow play group for several reasons. As DaveCT points out players who spent more time than anticipated in the minors seem to do well in the transition. Votto and Frazier were better ML players than Minor league players. Barrero was a higher rated prospect than Votto. He was rushed up in 2020 and has floundered.
Second, the old collective bargaining agreement encouraged teams to wait until May to promote a player to the show. The new collective bargaining agreement encourages a team to have a rookie on the opening day roster. It is not a coincidence that Gunnar Henderson was kept in the minor last August even though the Orioles were in the middle of a playoff run. Henderson, Josh Jung, Spencer Steer, Corbin Carroll and several others were called up in September and their teams made sure their AB were kept below the threshold to lose rookie eligibility. The Reds should have as many players as possible open the 2024 season in Cincinnati as rookies.
Unrelated but I’m pretty sure I just had a Geno Suarez sighting here in the PNW at the grocery store.
Pacific Northwest? You sure it wasn’t Elvis?
Def not The King! It was in a tourist destination, Friday Harbor.
He’s usually hard to mistake!