Aaron Nola ready for new challenges at triple A

ALLENTOWN - Aaron Nola drove to Allentown on Monday afternoon, officially beginning the next stage of his baseball career. The Phillies' top pitching prospect dominated at the double-A level. The Phillies promoted him Sunday to triple A. It was time for a new test.

"I'm ready to get things started," Nola said before Lehigh Valley's game Monday night. "I'm ready to learn more of the game. I feel like I'm going to learn more over here. There's a lot of older guys. I'm going to keep my ears open and my eyes open. Just learn and learn as much as I can."

Upon his arrival, the 22-year-old met with Lehigh Valley manager Dave Brundage. He told Nola - the fourth-youngest player in the International League - that he will be facing older players for the rest of the season. Scouting reports will be more detailed.

"You're going to have more people that are more prepared for you," Brundage said. "We talked about being predictable and unpredictable, pitching with command and utilizing all your pitches. . . . I just think he needs exposure and experience. That's what he's here for."

Nola went 7-3 with a 1.88 ERA in 12 starts with double-A Reading. The Phillies drafted the righthander with the No. 7 overall pick last June. He struck out 59 batters and walked nine in 762/3 innings with the Fightin Phils. Nola will start Thursday night against the Buffalo Bisons.

The Phillies are monitoring Nola's workload and will likely keep him around 170 innings this season. Brundage said there will be some caution but does not expect to drastically limit Nola. The pitcher threw a combined 1712/3 innings last season between his junior season at LSU and two months in the minor leagues.

He averaged 6.38 innings per start this season at Reading. That pace would allow Nola 14 more starts before reaching the 170-inning threshold. His 14th start would fall in the first week of September. Nola said he expects to be able to pitch a full season.

"That's my goal," Nola said. "My goal is to stay healthy all year and pitch as much as I can. I'm looking forward to throwing more innings and getting this thing rolling."

Reading manager Dusty Wathan called Nola into his office on Sunday after the Fightin Phils' game against Akron. He told Nola that he had been promoted to triple A. The pitcher said he did not know it was coming.

"It was a pretty cool moment," Nola said. "He just said my time was done here and congratulated me. Those were good guys. It was a great staff that I was working with over there. They taught me a lot."

@matt_breen