With the Philadelphia Phillies in the middle of a season-long 10-game road trip, they are due to get reinforcements back over the coming days. Even after veteran free agent signing David Robertson joined the club and made his (third) Phillies debut this week, there remains a trio of big-league Phillies in Triple-A Lehigh Valley that we need to check in on.
As the Phillies prepare to tackle the NL East rival Washington Nationals for four games beginning on Thursday, here’s the latest on Aaron Nola, José Alvarado and Alec Bohm from their rehab assignments.
Phillies News: Aaron Nola set to return this weekend-ish
Starting pitcher Aaron Nola made his final Triple-A rehab start for the IronPigs on Tuesday night. The veteran right-hander looked great in the outing, throwing 5 2/3 innings and striking out 11 Buffalo Bisons batters. He allowed two runs on four hits and didn’t walk anyone. Most importantly, he got his pitch count up to 84 pitches (61 strikes).
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As long as everything feels good, Nola is on track to rejoin the Phillies in Washington, with a start on Sunday a real possibility. However, according to MLB.com’s Paul Casella, there’s a chance the Phillies opt to push him back to start on Monday. They’ve left Sunday’s starter as TBD for now.
Whether Nola starts the series finale against the Nationals or opens the series at home against the surging Seattle Mariners, he’ll be a welcome addition back to a rotation that has experienced some bumps in the road recently. Zack Wheeler hasn’t looked like Zack Wheeler of late, and Ranger Suárez has been going through a serious slump over the last few weeks.
Nola will have missed three months of action after first going on the injured list with an ankle sprain in mid-May, followed by a stress fracture in his ribs. Despite a 6.16 season ERA, a healthy and consistent Nola will be a massive addition for the Phillies down the stretch.
José Alvarado dominates Triple-A hitters, again
The suspended José Alvarado made his third Triple-A appearance on Wednesday and threw another shutout inning. The lefty topped out at 98 mph, and while he gave up a single and a walk, he got a strikeout and a couple of groundouts to escape the frame unscathed.
This came on the heels of two previous clean relief appearances in which he allowed just one hit with three strikeouts over two total innings of work. He touched 98.6 mph last week in his first game action since being handed an 80-game PED suspension by MLB in May.
Alvarado is eligible to rejoin the Phillies next Tuesday, Aug. 19, and so far looks to be on track to hit that date. He’ll add another much-needed late-inning option to the now solid-looking bullpen. Unfortunately, we already know that he can only help the Phillies for the remaining six weeks of the regular season, as he’s not eligible for the playoffs.
Alec Bohm finally gets first hit of rehab assignment, and it was a big one
Working his way back from a fractured left rib, third baseman Alec Bohm had scuffled at the plate over his first two starts for the IronPigs. He got off the snide on Wednesday afternoon, crushing a 404-foot, 104 mph two-run home run. He finished the day 1-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk.
Bohmer homer!#ironpigs #phillies pic.twitter.com/Ga18qZwmph
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He went 0-for-4 in his first two rehab games earlier this week, with a nice barehanded defensive gem in his first game, but nobody was really concerned. The Phillies were more concerned that he feels healthy and isn’t having any lingering issues in his rib. Bohm gave the all clear after his first rehab game on Sunday, per Phillies Nation’s Ty Daubert.
“Everything went good,” Bohm said, per Daubert. “Pretty much no news. No news is good news. Feel good. Felt normal. Whatever I felt now feels like, if anything, muscle soreness. But today I felt good out there. I really didn’t feel much of anything. Just felt pretty normal, which is good.”
Bohm went on the 10-day IL right after the All-Star break, on July 19, courtesy of a pre-break Yu Darvish hit-by-pitch. He’s slashing .278/.324/.391 with eight homers and 42 RBIs in 92 games this season. It shouldn’t be too long before we see him back at the hot corner for the Phillies.