Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Players to Look out for this Season
By Chuck Booth
Aaron Nola is a major key to the Philadelphia Phillies present and future.
The future of the Philadelphia Phillies is in Aaron Nola’s right arm. No pressure right? This will be Nola’s first full season in the majors and the Phillies can’t afford to have him take a step back from his performance last season. This spring has been slightly worrisome for Nola, as he has pitched to a 5.28 ERA. Since it is the spring it should be taken with a grain of salt because he could be working on his different pitches rather than pitching for results.
Last season, Nola pitched in 13 games over 77 innings to the tune of a 3.59 ERA, going 6-2. Those are great numbers for a rookie and he will be expected to take a step forward this season for the Philadelphia Phillies. If Nola can keep his ERA around the mid threes during the season over 150+ innings it would be a promising sign for the Phillies.
Nola will have inning caps so it will be interesting to see how those are managed (If he’ll skip starts or be shut down in September). Nola is the most important prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies (yes more important than Maikel Franco) and it will be interesting to see how he moves forward this season and begins to tap his ace potential.
Next: Number Three: Jeremy Hellickson