Phillies’ Aaron Nola goes on IL with ankle sprain; Mick Abel to make MLB debut Sunday

PHILADELPHIA — It’s been almost eight years since Aaron Nola last went on the injured list — so long ago that, in 2017, Major League Baseball still called it the disabled list. No one in the sport has started more games and logged more innings than Nola has since the beginning of the 2018 season.

So he wanted to pitch through a sprained right ankle he said he suffered last week during a pregame agility drill. The Phillies deferred to Nola, who knows how far he can push his body.

“As a competitor, that’s what I’m here to do,” Nola said. “Go pitch. I’ve pitched through stuff. Little things that haven’t really affected me. I thought this was going to subside by now. But it hasn’t, really.”

So the Phillies made the call. When Nola arrived Friday at Citizens Bank Park two days after a career-worst start, he was summoned to the manager’s office. The Phillies were putting him on the IL.

Nola, who has a 6.16 ERA in nine starts this season, will miss at least two weeks and perhaps more. The club does not consider the injury serious, but Nola acknowledged he felt more stress in his back as a result of altering his mechanics to compensate for the bad ankle. He needs the right ankle to push off the rubber. He was frustrated to go on the IL; it all but guarantees he will not reach his desired 200 innings pitched in 2025.

“I wasn’t able to rotate my foot like I usually do,” Nola said. “And I kind of need to do that. Yeah, I mean, that’s all I have to say about it.”

For now, the Phillies will replace Nola with Mick Abel. The 2020 first-round pick will make his big-league debut Sunday as a spot starter. The Phillies have told Abel, 23, that his first time in the majors will last only one start. He’ll return to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Taijuan Walker could have started Sunday’s game, but he threw 59 pitches as a reliever last Wednesday and would not have a typical between-starts routine. So he will start Wednesday in Colorado. Inserting Abel allows the Phillies to bump everyone else in the rotation back a day, too. The Phillies have some rotation depth, and they’ll flex it by rearranging things.

The Phillies claimed they knew about Nola’s ailing right ankle for the past week but declined to reveal it for competitive reasons. He injured it May 8 at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. Nola still pitched the next day in Cleveland and allowed four runs in five innings. He stayed in the rotation only to allow nine runs in 3 2/3 innings Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Given what the Phillies knew about Nola’s ankle, the decision to keep him in Wednesday’s game is questionable. Nola said the ankle had improved, but not enough.

He said it affected him on the mound.

“I mean, it was definitely there for sure,” Nola said. “Definitely not that comfortable, right? It got a little better from Cleveland to the last game. I thought it’d be pretty much better by now. It’s still lingering.”

It’s either a convenient excuse and a chance for the Phillies to reset Nola, or an explanation as to why Nola stumbled over the past week. He had appeared to turn a corner, beginning with a better outing April 21 against the New York Mets. He followed it with seven innings of one-run ball against the Chicago Cubs and another six scoreless against the Arizona Diamondbacks. All three of those teams have robust lineups.

“It’s more of a lingering thing,” Thomson said. “We didn’t want to say anything, obviously, because we’re giving the opposition a leg up. They could bunt on him. They could do things. We just thought he could pitch through it. But we want to make sure we take care of him now.

To this point, Nola is the weak link in an otherwise strong rotation.

Now, for Abel, the spot start is a reward for a strong beginning to his season. He slogged through 108 2/3 innings of a 6.46 ERA last season at Triple A. It was a mental grind. But Abel has thrown more strikes in 2025. He’s used a deeper pitch mix. Rival evaluators have seen a pitcher with better mound presence; before, Abel would dwell on mistakes and his outings could unravel. By promoting him to the majors with clear parameters — the club told Abel this would be one start and one start only — it allows the right-handed prospect a chance to get his feet wet.

“The stuff’s always been there,” Thomson said. “Now he’s throwing strikes. He’s missing bats. His walk rate’s down. He’s just a very confident guy right now. I’m really excited to see him pitch.”

Abel has gone at least six innings in four of his eight starts this season at Triple A. His four-seam fastball has averaged 95.6 mph and even touched 99 mph. His curveball has been a strikeout weapon. He throws a sinker; most Phillies starters have to have two fastballs. The slider has been more consistent. He’s even thrown some changeups.

Abel’s emergence is important as Andrew Painter continues his climb. The Phillies suffered a blow to their rotation depth: Moisés Chace, a right-handed prospect who had some helium at the end of last season, will undergo Tommy John surgery. Chace, who turns 22 in June, had pitched this season at Double-A Reading with diminished velocity. The Phillies had deemed him healthy until earlier this week when he threw a pitch and immediately grabbed his elbow.

The Phillies had added Chace to their 40-man roster over the offseason with hopes of him contributing in 2025. Now, he’ll miss this season and much of 2026.

They are hoping Nola returns sometime in early June. His last injury that required downtime was a strained lower back that sidelined him from April 21 to May 20, 2017.

“Being available for his team, that’s what he’s all about,” Thomson said. “He was disappointed, but I don’t think this is going to be much longer than the 15 days.”

Nola can keep his arm moving, and he plans to do that. He’ll accompany the team on the upcoming West Coast road trip. It is an unusual feeling for him.

“That’s how I go about everything,” Nola said. “I try to be as healthy as possible so I can be prepared and make my starts every single time I’m given the baseball. … It’s kind of a freak thing. It sucks, but that’s part of it. Hopefully, it can get better pretty quickly.”

(Top photo of Aaron Nola: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)

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