it’s now been 10 years since the Philadelphia Phillies drafted Aaron Nola. His journey in the City of Brotherly Love has been a rollercoaster ride with the righty experiencing some of the highest of highs and some difficult lows. But as of today, he’s one of Philadelphia’s mainstays after securing a stunning 7-year deal worth $172M this past offseason. It’s not something he’s taken lightly, either, with the pitcher putting in some of his best work over the opening stanza of the 2024 season.
Aaron Nola reflects on an encouraging 2024
On a sunny Saturday in East London, Aaron Nola walked off the practice field after warmups. The Phillies and Mets played a two-game series at London Stadium and while he wasn’t slated to pitch that weekend, he travelled with the team, soaked up the atmosphere, and got in the lab to ensure he stayed ready for his next big start.
Nola had never actually been out of the country prior to that point outside of cruises. His aim for the weekend was simply to explore the architecture, which is funnily enough a metaphor for how he’s approached his development over the last few years.
The 2023 season featured some scintillating starts for the Baton Rouge native, and some struggles against big hitters. Nola allowed a career-high 32 home runs last year, and while not a metric to evaluate quality pitching, the homers were certainly damaging for a pitcher whose strong and sturdy wheels would sometimes wobble after a swing in momentum. The goal was to simply breathe and focus on his process.
‘I’m to take my bullpen sessions a little more slow so it translates on the mound. I want to focus on the movements in my delivery to keep them the same. That’s my biggest goal this year.’
The results speak for themselves. Ahead of his start against the Padres on June 18th, Aaron Nola is sporting a 3.48 ERA, and after allowing a home run in 5 of his first 6 appearances, he’s only surrendered them in 3 of his last 8.
There have also been notable changes in his arsenal of pitches. Nola’s knuckle curveball has been destructive this year. He’s thrown it 32% of the time and when partnered with a focus on sinkers and cutters, both of which average speeds of over 87mph, it creates a real difficulty for opposing batters who have to constantly be wary of the bottom of the strike zone. He’s getting a 1st pitch strike 65% of the time this season and his zone contact has dropped from 85% last year to 80% in 2024.
That’s not by accident, either. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham told me about the teams’ ‘North Star’ – being great at what you’re good at. Nola’s focus on attacking the bottom of the strike zone and working on a multitude of ways to do so has made it far more difficult for hitters to really generate big plays against him.
Where it all began
In 2016, his first season with the Phils, 40% of home runs surrendered were considered ‘no doubters’. Then he suffered an elbow injury which fundamentally changed the way he had to approach pitching. After having to work on new feels to recreate the same results he did before, he stumbled on a different way of pitching entirely, and it very much shaped the Aaron Nola we see today.
“In 2016 it was a blessing in disguise, i got hurt. I changed my delivery a lot after that year and I think that helped me out a lot. Obviously it was really tough at the time, but I’m glad it happened. I learned a lot about myself as a player and a person.”
Initially, Nola struggled upon his return. His ‘no doubter’ percentage shot up to 60% in 2017, but after slowly understanding what he needed to change, that number dropped near enough year-on-year. In 2024, that number sits at a staggering 33%. He’s also allowing home runs 15% less of the time this year than he was during his 2023 campaign.
‘I’ve watched him pitch for a long time’. Cotham said when talking about the rise of Philadelphia’s first wonderkid in a long time. A homegrown prospect that has continued to get better and now finds himself in elite company. ‘That’s Aaron nola. It’s consistency and adaptability. He hasn’t changed a whole lot but inside what he does, he changes different feels. It’s interesting to pull up 4 years of notes to go back and look at 4 years of feels he’s used. It’s incredible the attention to detail he has. He’s very particular about routine. It’s evolution. He’s not changing to change. He feels what he does and while the feeling to create that might change over time, he’s a pitcher.’
The road ahead
Nola’s persistence and ability to recognize what he needs to change in order to stay at the top of his game is remarkable, and on top of that, this is someone that has been in Philadelphia throughout all of the ups and downs to build mental fortitude. He was there in 2016 when the team languished in the trenches of the NL East, and he was there for both the World Series run in 2022 and the playoff push in 2023. It’s something that excites and ignites the 31-year-old.
‘The Postseason changes the whole mindset for the next season. We’re in first place but we have a goal. We want to get back to the postseason, we’re not harping over being in 1st place. We know where we want to get to and know how hard it is to get to the postseason and to win in the postseason.’
‘You see teams roll through the season and get flipped in the playoffs. I think the atmosphere in our clubhouse is we’re winning, but we need to win the next one.’
With so much emphasis on creating a culture where players know that their individuality is encouraged, the Phillies have been able to to build a team of players whose confidence now remains unchanged during storms. Players like Aaron Nola are given the freedom to feel things out for themselves with the support of a coaching staff who will remain honest throughout that process. It’s resulted in not only a meteoric rise for Nola, but the rest of the pitching staff who continue to run through competition with ease on what feels like a nightly basis.
‘It’s really easy in baseball to focus on what you’re not good at and you can focus on that too much to the point you forget who you are and lose what makes you, you.’ Cotham said. ‘We want to be training our strengths a lot. The other stuff is progressing, adding or subtracting pitches, changing usage so we don’t just go Rambo on one day because it’s a slippery slope. Everyone’s working on something always, but it’s based around why you’re here and why you’re really good.’
To look back on where Aaron Nola was even five years ago almost feels like a haze. He’s developed into one of the cornerstones of this franchise and was rewarded for his play with a contract to keep him in Philadelphia through 2031.
The best part of this story so far is that we haven’t yet found that fairytale ending that feels more and more likely as the years go by. The best is yet to come. Nola believes it, Cotham believes it, the team believes it, and so do the fans. Sitting atop the NL East as the team approaches the All-Star break, it truly seems to be Sunny in Philadelphia, but looking back at the work it’s taken to get here makes that Summer sun burn so much brighter.
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
