Nola still not set as Opening Day starter
PHILADELPHIA » Aaron Nola threw 47 pitches in an intrasquad game Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, most impressive, some not, none spectacular enough for Joe Girardi to make the most pressing pitching decision of all.
Eleven days before the season, the Phillies manager remains uncertain whether Nola will be his Opening Day starter.
Girardi’s hesitation is a ripple from Nola’s late arrival to summer camp after having been found to have been in contact with a coronavirus victim. While he made it clear late Monday that expects Nola to start the opener July 24 against visiting Miami and that the franchise-right-hander will fit in somewhere during the first rotation, Girardi is keeping his Plan B options open.
“If he doesn’t start Opening Day, he definitely would in the first time through the rotation as long as everything goes physically OK,” he said. “We kind of feel that he’s going to be all right. When you talk about Plan B, there’s a lot of things we could do. You could ‘bullpen’ it. You could move somebody up.”
The Phillies committed $118,000,000 over five years to free-agent right-hander Zack Wheeler, who will throw four innings in a Tuesday intrasquad game and will be in the right preparation rhythm to make a July 24th start. But it has loomed as a real possibility that Wheeler will require a paternity leave at that time.
“I guess in reality Wheels could be a possibility,” Girardi said. “Vinny Velasquez could be a possibility. They are throwing on the 14th. So they could throw on the 19th. So there’s a lot of possibilities. But I feel pretty good about Aaron and where he is at right now.
“Obviously, his next start is important. But we’ll go from there.”
Nola was crisp early Monday, retiring Adam Haseley, Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper in a relaxed-rules affair before Didi Gregorius reached on what would be an inning-ending error by one of the coaches who were charged with doing the fielding.
Nola was equally sharp in his second inning-plus, also scoreless and including Nick Williams striking out looking. But Logan O’Hoppe laced a sharp single to left off Nola to begin the third. After a 3-6-3 double play, Hoskins singled and Harper and Gregorius walked. The inning was halted with the bases loaded.
“I thought Nola threw the ball pretty well,” Girardi said. “I thought he lost his command a little bit at the end, which is probably normal. Just like in any spring training, they tend to get a little fatigued at the end. But I thought he went through the lineup pretty quick. I think he got nine outs in two innings. So I was very pleased.”
Nola, who was never virusstricken but was shielded from his teammates only as a cautionary measure as per baseball’s new health protocols, has said he has every intention of being the Opening Day starter.
“I think it’s definitely a possibility,” Girardi said. “Maybe we get him to 62-to-65 pitches the next time. And Opening Day, depending how he feels as we go through this, is still a possibility.”
Though the Phillies played four innings Monday, they will play 10 Tuesday, with Wheeler, Jose Alvarez, Edgar Garcia, Robert Stock, Connor Brogdon, Vince Velasquez, Francisco Liriano, Trevor Kelly, Addison Russ and Garrett Cleavinger pitching.
The offensive highlights Monday included Andrew McCutchen sending Cole Irvin’s second pitch over the center field fence, and Jean Segura going 2-for-2 with a single and double. Harper played an inning at third base for the simple joy of it all after promising Girardi he would avoid any contact.