Phillies' top prospect, 22-year-old right hander Aaron Nola out of Louisiana State University, will make his Triple-A debut Thursday according to Jake Kaplan of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Nola's promotion, announced Sunday, came after allowing just two earned runs over five innings of work Saturday against the Akron RubberDucks, the Cleveland Indians' Double-A affiliate. On Thursday, he will oppose the Buffalo Bisons, the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Kaplan writes:
Buffalo's roster features several hitters with major league experience, such as Daric Barton, Luke Scott and Josh Thole. Adding intrigue to the game is the fact that Nola is in line to oppose Daniel Norris, the Blue Jays' top prospect. Norris, also a 22-year-old righthander, posted a 3.86 ERA in five April starts for Toronto's major league club before returning to triple A.
This season overall with the Reading Fightin Phils, Nola went (7-3) with a 1.88 ERA over 12 starts. His 0.887 WHIP ratio ranked second in the Eastern League, behind Blue Jays' left-handed prospect Matt Boyd (0.774).
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | BF | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 21 | Clearwater | FLOR | A+ | 2 | 3 | .400 | 3.16 | 7 | 6 | 31.1 | 24 | 12 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 30 | 121 | 0.926 |
| 2014 | 21 | Reading | EL | AA | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.62 | 5 | 5 | 24.0 | 25 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 98 | 1.250 |
| 2015 | 22 | Reading | EL | AA | 7 | 3 | .700 | 1.88 | 12 | 12 | 76.2 | 59 | 17 | 16 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 59 | 288 | 0.887 |
| 2 Seasons | 11 | 6 | .647 | 2.32 | 24 | 23 | 132.0 | 108 | 36 | 34 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 104 | 507 | 0.962 | ||||
Drafted seventh overall in the first round of the 2014 amateur draft, Nola has risen quickly in the Phillies' system. Perhaps, he will receive another promotion this season to join Ryne Sandberg's team come September, or sooner if starting pitchers are traded such as Cole Hamels or Aaron Harang.
Hamels, 31, got his first major league experience at the same age as Nola back in 2006. Being drafted out of high school however, four years prior in the 2002 amateur draft, gave the left hander more time to develop with Phillies' coaches down in the minors.
On March 27, 2015, Nola received experience against major league hitting in a Spring Training game against the New York Yankees at Bright House Field. He threw three shutout innings of work, allowing five hits and no walks. Additionally, Nola struck out four batters which include Chase Headley, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez and Chris Young.
Nola allowed just nine walks, and struck out 59 batters, in 76.2 innings with the Fightin Phils this season.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
