CLEARWATER, Fla. — Editor's note: The above video is from Oct. 12, 2020.
After retiring after the 2017 season, a former top pitching prospect and No. 1 overall pick of the 2013 MLB Draft has decided to attempt a comeback.
According to multiple reports, Mark Appel, 29, will join the Philadelphia Phillies minor league team for Spring Training in hopes of getting his Major League dreams back-on-track.
Despite Appel's retirement, the Phillies still owned his rights, thus his return with the club.
Even with his top prospect billing, Appel struggled throughout his minor league career, posting a 5.06 ERA across 375.1 innings at four different levels of the minors.
The Houston Astros, who took Appel with the top MLB Draft selection in 2013, traded him to the Phillies after the 2015 season, unable to correct his struggles. The Phillies didn't have much success turning the tides for Appel, either.
In Appel's last season in 2017, he posted a 5.27 ERA over 82 innings spanning 17 starts with the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs.
The team will hope to help Appel get back to his days as a Stanford Cardinal, where he pitched to a 2.12 ERA over 106.1 innings as a 21-year-old.
As of now, Appel is only the third player picked with the first overall pick in the MLB Draft to not reach the Major Leagues, joining Steve Chilcott and Brien Taylor.
If the Phillies were to receive any sort of boost from Appel, it would be a bonus. Currently, the team only has five starting pitchers ranked within its top 20 prospects, showcasing the need for pitching.