Top Phillies prospect Nola excited to be at spring training

CLEARWATER, Fla. - About a half hour after J.P. Crawford joined a group of minor leaguers taking infield work just outside Bright House Field, Aaron Nola finished his morning workout at the Carpenter Complex.

Although minor league camp doesn't officially open until tomorrow, the Phillies' top two prospects were already in attendance and getting their work in early.

There had been some speculation that Nola, the team's first-round pick last June, could get an invitation to big-league camp. But the 21-year-old righthander seemed perfectly content to be in minor league camp.

It beats being at Western Civilization 1003 or Biology 1001 at LSU.

"It's fun being out here everyday, especially with this weather," Nola, who was playing for LSU this time last year, said outside the minor league facilities yesterday. "Getting to hang around the guys, learn some new stuff and kick off my first spring training."

Did he have any expectations that he'd be invited to big-league camp?

"[The Phillies] didn't talk to me too much about that," Nola said. "I knew I was going to be in spring training either way. I was just just focusing no matter wherever they put me in spring training."

Just because Nola isn't in the big-league clubhouse this spring doesn't mean he won't make his way into a Grapefruit League game this month. Cole Hamels and Andrew Carpenter are among the former Phillies pitching prospects who have made major league cameos in spring games despite spending their days in the cramped confines of the minor league clubhouse.

But Nola doesn't seem concerned with what may or may not happen this spring. He's just eager to get his first full professional season going.

Nola, who turns 22 in June, had a lengthy 2014 season, beginning in February in the Southeastern Conference and ending in the Eastern League for Double A Reading in late August. The seventh overall pick in the draft, Nola went 4-3 with a 2.93 ERA in 12 minor league games (including 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA in five starts at Reading).

"I got a few weeks off from throwing, running and working out - but then I got back to training," said Nola, who arrived in Clearwater on Friday. "I've been training for a few months now. I'm ready to kick it off and prepare for this spring training."

Goals for the spring?

"To learn as much as I can, from anybody I can," Nola said.

Goals for the season?

"Definitely to stay healthy," he said. "To stay as healthy as I can as long as I can, for the whole year. That's my biggest goal."

Nola spent his offseason in his native Louisiana but was in Philadelphia for a week in January with some of his fellow young pitchers during the Phillies Prospect Education Program. The rebuilding Phillies added Zach Eflin, Tom Windle and Ben Lively to their minor league pitching inventory in trades this winter.

They could all join Nola at Reading when the 2015 season begins - although nothing is etched in stone. But eventually the goal is to arrive to the big leagues, where they could form a young and promising rotation together.

"Whenever it's time for them to make that decision, it's their call," Nola said. "But, my focus is for spring training right now and get this thing started."