The righty now looks to be out until after the All-Star Break
Before today’s game, Phillies manager Rob Thomson announced to gathered media that an MRI revealed that Aaron Nola has a stress reaction in his rib cage and that he will be shut down from throwing for at least two weeks. Nola has already been on the injured list since May 16th with an ankle sprain.
An MRI showed a stress reaction in Aaron Nola’s right rib cage, Rob Thomson said. Nola will not throw for at least two weeks. A rather significant setback that probably means he doesn’t return until after All-Star break.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) June 10, 2025
The Phillies originally hoped that Nola wouldn’t miss much time from the ankle, but he now looks to miss out least two months with this latest injury. It’s another mark on what has become the worst season of Nola’s big-league career, as he owns a 6.16 ERA across nine starts so far.
One thing that has been a constant across Nola’s ten previous seasons in the Majors was his durability. Nola’s 1,671 innings pitched since 2015 are the second most of all starters across MLB behind only Gerritt Cole’s 1,698.2 IP. He’s logged an average of 171 innings per season since his first full season with the Phillies in 2016. It was one of the main reasons the Phillies re-signed him to a seven year, $172M contract before last season. But this season has been a different animal, as Nola has only thrown 49.2 ineffective innings and will likely not appear in a game again until late July or early August.
Mick Abel has taken Nola’s spot in the rotation and has been a revelation. The young right hander has revitalized his career and forced himself into the Phillies plans. It appeared for a moment that the Phillies may have had a case of too many starters in the event of Nola’s quick return and the impending arrival of Andrew Painter. But as so often is the case in baseball, when you think you have too many starting pitchers, you don’t
Abel suddenly becomes much more important to the Phillies season. He is no longer a happy surprise overshooting expectations while filling in. He’s now a crucial part of a Phillies rotation that was originally built to carry an inconsistent offense that has been brutal of late.
Nola’s extended absence may also affect the likelihood of an Abel trade. The 23-year-old Abel had been turning himself into a nice trade chip to dangle at the trade deadline for reinforcements either for the lineup or bullpen. But now with Nola expected to miss much more time than expected, it becomes harder to see the Phillies parting with Abel even with Painter on the horizon, as the latter will be on a pitch count.
Either way, the Phillies will be without the services of their best innings eater for the foreseeable future.