Strange Gyrations

The Mirror

As a boy in Baton Rouge, Aaron Nola stood in front of a mirror and mimicked pitching motions. His father A.J., who coached his Little League teams, called the movements "strange gyrations." There was another ballplayer in the house — older brother Austin, who went through LSU and into the majors — and Aaron grew up watching him in tournaments.

At Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, Nola was named Louisiana Mr. Baseball as a senior. The Blue Jays drafted him in the 22nd round in 2011. He passed, enrolled at Louisiana State, and three years later the Phillies took him seventh overall and signed him for $3.3 million. He reached the majors on July 21, 2015, and has never pitched for another club.

Two Thousand

On August 8, 2026, Nola recorded his 2,000th career strikeout. Twelve seasons, 310 starts, all in Philadelphia. The line behind the number: 113 wins, 98 losses, a 3.94 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and one All-Star selection in 2018.

The Stillness

Teammates and coaches describe a hard worker who rarely shows emotion. J.T. Realmuto has noted the same — the work, the competition. The composure is deliberate. Nola once slammed his glove after giving up a home run, and it startled his manager. After finishing Double-A in 2014, the Louisiana native first experienced Philadelphia's chaos as a big-city newcomer in faded jeans and a hoodie, walking near the curb in the rain looking for food, when a bus hit a pothole and soaked him. He laughed.

He turned 33 in June. He is still a Phillie, still starting, and the count is past two thousand and still moving.

Reporting: The Players' Tribune, MLB.com, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.