Aaron Nola Returning From IL on Sunday, Phillies Plan to use Six-Man Rotation
At long last, Aaron Nola is set to rejoin the Philadelphia Phillies’ starting rotation.
The 32-year-old starter will return from the 60-day injured list for Sunday’s series finale against the Washington Nationals. It’ll be his first start in the majors since May 14.
Nola has missed significant time this season due to a rib fracture and a right ankle sprain, limiting the 2018 All-Star to just nine big-league starts in ‘25. He made a trio of Triple-A rehab starts this month, pitching to a 2.19 ERA with 17 strikeouts and only three walks across 12.1 innings.
Once Nola returns, the Phillies are expected to invoke a six-man staff in the short term, although they’re still mapping out how many turns through the rotation they’ll use this format.
“Once for sure and then we’ve got some other ideas how to attack this thing as we move forward,” manager Rob Thomson told reporters Thursday, including the Associated Press.
By operating with six starters, Philadelphia will provide extra rest for a rotation that’s logged the most innings (693.1) in the majors this season, and has finished top five in innings pitched each year since 2022. But they’ll be forced to carry one less reliever in the bullpen moving forward – at least until rosters expand to 28 players in September.
The Phillies have relied heavily on their starters throughout this season. So, receiving additional rest at this point in the schedule may prove beneficial down the stretch, particularly for someone like Cristopher Sánchez, who’s on pace to set a new career-high in innings pitched for the second consecutive year.
“Just getting some of these guys some extra rest cause we’ve been grinding on them pretty hard all year,” Thomson said. “The one downside to it is you’ve got to take somebody out of your bullpen, so you’re a little short there but we’ll just have to figure it out.”
Having too many quality starting pitchers is always a great problem to have. It’s certainly better than the alternative. While it remains to be seen how long Philadelphia will use a six-man rotation, it’ll include Nola, Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Jesús Luzardo and Taijuan Walker for the time being.
Before landing on the IL in May, Nola had struggled mightily to begin this season, faltering to a 6.16 ERA and 5.04 FIP over his first nine starts, surrendering multiple home runs per start in five of those outings – 11 total.
Now healthy, the hope is that the veteran right-hander can return to the three-win pitcher, per fWAR, that he was in consecutive seasons from 2023-24. Last season, for instance, he posted a 3.57 ERA and 3.94 FIP with 197 strikeouts – three shy of reaching the 200-strikeout mark for the fourth straight year – across 33 starts.
Nola is in the second season of a seven-year, $172-million contract that runs through 2030. He’s spent his entire professional career in Philadelphia, spanning 277 starts across 11 major league campaigns.
The Phillies enter Friday’s slate leading the NL East at 69-52, holding a five-game edge over the New York Mets for top spot in the division.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.