Aaron Nola

Aaron Michael Nola (born June 4, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nola was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and played baseball alongside his older brother Austin. His father A. J. served as Nola's Little League coach until high school. After struggling his freshman season due to stress fractures in his back, Nola spent three years playing varsity baseball for Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, including two state playoff appearances. At the end of his senior year in 2011, the Louisiana Sports Writers Association named Nola the state's "Mr. Baseball". Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011, he instead attended Louisiana State University (LSU), where he was roommates with future MLB infielder Alex Bregman. In his three seasons as a weekend starter with the LSU Tigers, Nola was twice named the SEC Pitcher of the Year, and won the National Pitcher of the Year Award in 2014. He also played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Phillies selected Nola seventh overall in the 2014 MLB Draft, and he signed with the team that June. He advanced through the Phillies' farm system throughout the 2014 and 2015 seasons, becoming the first Phillies pitcher to make his major league debut the season after his draft since Pat Combs in 1989. Although Nola performed well in his first full season with the Phillies in 2016, he was shut down early due to an elbow injury. He returned in 2017 to beat Curt Schilling's 1996 record for most strikeouts by a Phillies pitcher with fewer than 30 starts in one season. The following year, he became the fourth pitcher in franchise history to record at least 200 strikeouts in a single season. Nola has started every Opening Day game for the Phillies since 2018, and is considered the team's ace.