Nola's season may not be over at 185 innings
Rookie sitting at 175 IP ahead of Sunday's scheduled start vs. Braves
PHILADELPHIA -- Aaron Nola's magic number might not be any number at all.
The Phillies have said for some time they planned to limit Nola's workload this season to 185 innings, but as he enters Sunday's start against the Braves at Turner Field with 175 innings they could be reconsidering.
After all, 185 is an arbitrary number.
"I've been trying to get my hands around that for a couple of days," Phillies interim general manager Scott Proefrock said, "just to figure out what we can do and what makes sense. I read an article the other day that talked about Tommy John, and this obviously doesn't apply to Aaron, but they were saying Tommy John was told by Dr. [Frank] Jobe, 'Go by how it feels, by how your arm feels.'
"At this point, there's no indication that there's any reason or necessity to limit them other than what we've set. And I think we're just going to play it by how they feel going forward. We'll see."
Nola is scheduled to make three more starts: Sunday in Atlanta, Sept. 27 in Washington and Oct. 4 in the season finale against the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. Nola has said repeatedly his arm feels strong, so perhaps the Phillies let him pitch a little more than 185 innings. Then again, maybe not.
"We'll just see how it plays out," Proefrock said.