NEW YORK -- Aaron Nola will begin a Minor League rehab assignment next Thursday, bringing the veteran right-hander one step closer to a return to the Phillies’ rotation for the playoff push.
Nola, who's still working his way back from the right ankle and rib injuries that have kept him out since May, threw a three-inning live batting practice session at Yankee Stadium on Friday. The right-hander threw 56 pitches.
The next step: a rehab stint with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Nola is scheduled to pitch Thursday on the road against Worcester. And he's raring to start pitching in real games.
"I'm here to pitch," Nola said Friday. "That's what I'm used to doing, is going out every five days and taking the ball for this team. Not being able to do it for this long has been tough."
The Phillies want to build Nola up to 90 pitches before he returns to the big league rotation. He'll start his rehab assignment with Lehigh Valley at about three innings and 55-60 pitches, with the goal of increasing his workload by 15 pitches each outing. That means at least three rehab starts before Nola's ready to rejoin Philadelphia, but it could also be four.
"When he's on, he's one of the best pitchers in the game, so that's what you want -- you want that guy in your rotation," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
The 32-year-old Nola hasn't pitched in an MLB game since May 14, more than two months ago. A right ankle sprain landed him on the injured list for the first time in eight years, and he hit a roadblock in his recovery in early June when he suffered a stress fracture in one of his right ribs.
Nola believes the rib reaction stemmed from overcompensating as a result of the ankle injury, which left him unable to rotate in his delivery the way he usually does. His rib took the brunt of the extra stress.
"It starts from the ground up. The ankle, I use it a lot more than I thought I did," Nola said. "I learned the ankle is a huge part of a delivery, and pitching for me. And I need it to be mobile and strong to keep everything else healthy."
Nola's rib is now pain-free when he throws, and he said after Friday's live BP that his ankle continues to feel good, too. So does his arm, which he has taken extra care to keep healthy during his rehab process and layoff from pitching.
And after watching Nola's live BP, Thomson said Nola's pitches all looked sharp, including his velocity and command.
"He looks like he's ready for an assignment," Thomson said.
Even in Nola's absence, Philadelphia’s starting rotation has been arguably the best in baseball this year, led by Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez. Nola himself had some ups and downs early in the season before he got hurt. But with the Phillies battling for the National League East title, they want one of their longtime leaders back.
"I had a few good games in those games that I pitched, and some bad games, too," Nola said. "But I'm just happy the rehab process is going smoothly, and my whole body's healthy right now and I'm ready to get back out there."
And Nola, typically a workhorse starter, should be fresh when the games matter most.
"Me, I'm usually pitching a lot of innings at this point in the year, every year," Nola said. "But I've only thrown less than 50 innings so far this year. So I feel like I have a lot of bullets left right now. But obviously I have to be smart about it, too."