Aaron Nola just passed Curt Schilling for Phillies wins, but he’s more like Yankees legend Andy Pettitte
Both Nola and Pettitte are generally quiet unless approached. Both generally were the No. 2 starter on their best teams. And both compete like madmen.
It was 90 degrees in the shade, except there’s no shade in the Phillies’ bullpen. Rob Thomson could hardly believe his eyes.
Aaron Nola had started the night before, and for Nola, now 31, the day after a start is a day off. Except the night before, against the Yankees, the Phillies thought he might be tipping his pitches when he came set in the stretch. Thomson was figuring out his lineup in his office, which has a 46-inch, flat-screen TV wired to closed-circuit cameras all over the ballpark, including the bullpens.
So there was Nola, the late-morning sun blazing down, standing on the bullpen mound, nobody else around. He’d lean in as if accepting a sign, stand up with his feet close together, then bring the ball to his glove; his hands together, he’d align his grip. He did this over and over and over, baking in the heat for a half-hour.
“Middle of the day, nobody’s around, and he’s down there, just working on consistently coming set, to where he’s not tipping, because he knows everybody’s on him,” Thomson marveled. “That’s just who he is.”
It is this sort of adaptability and growth that keeps Nola ahead of the curve — or rather, in his case, the knuckle curve. It is Nola’s signature pitch, one he’s ridden to a 102-77 record in 10 seasons as a Phillie. His seven shutout innings Tuesday against the Astros sent him past Curt Schilling on the Phillies’ win list, into seventh place. Schill was 101-78, with a 3.35 ERA, slightly better than Nola’s 3.68, though Nola’s home field, Citizens Bank Park, is much more hitter-friendly than Veterans Stadium.
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“It feels good to be in the area of Schilling in wins. It’s pretty cool,” Nola said Wednesday. “I’ve got a lot of other things to worry about right now. That’s just kind of a bonus.”
It’s not Schilling, the obnoxious, power-armed bulldog, who comes to mind when you watch Aaron Nola.
It’s mild-mannered Andy Pettitte.
“I think that’s a good comp,” said Thomson, a Yankees coach during Pettitte’s last five seasons.
The lanky Yankee went 155-82 with a 3.94 ERA in his first 10 seasons, with 291 starts, but he benefited from playing on dominant Yankees teams that made the playoffs every year and won four World Series. Nola’s first seven Phillies teams missed the postseason.
Pettitte’s 1,875⅔ innings in his first 10 seasons outstrip Nola’s 1,588⅓, but Pettitte not only pitched in an era in which just the American League used a designated hitter (thereby decreasing the use of pinch hitters for the pitcher’s spot in the lineup), he pitched in an era in which pitch counts were a novelty, not a sacred totem.
That was, of course, the Steroid Era, when sports science had more to do with masking PED use — Pettitte acknowledged using HGH at least once — than with charting biorhythms.
Their playoff comparisons are close, too. Nola is 5-3 with a 3.70 ERA in nine playoff starts. Pettitte was 3-3 with a 5.15 ERA in his first nine postseason starts.
Schilling, of course, was a different animal when the postseason arrived. He was 5-1 with a 1.62 ERA and four complete games in his first nine playoff starts. Schilling’s playoff performance — an 11-2 record with a 2.23 ERA in 19 starts — is the strongest argument for a Hall of Fame candidacy, which he sabotaged with his vile character. Only one pitcher in the live-ball era (since 1920) with at least nine starts has a lower playoff ERA than Schilling, and that’s Bob Gibson.
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Schilling also went 216-146 with a 3.46 ERA in his 20-year career. Nola is 12-6 in 2024, and he’s signed for six more seasons in Philly. If he wins twice more this season, he reaches 14, and 104 overall. If he wins 14 times a year for the rest of his current contract, he’ll be at 188, which would rank fourth in Phillies history and put 200 wins in his sights.
It seems unlikely that Nola will approach the dominance Gibson and Schilling displayed in their Octobers, but then, Nola’s more Pettitte than Schill. Nola and Pettitte generally are quiet unless approached. Both have leaned on their faith to help them endure the trials of baseball, but neither proselytizes. Both generally were the No. 2 starter on their best teams. And both compete like madmen.
Pettitte once said: “Whatever I do, I love to win. I don’t care if it’s tennis or ping-pong, I’ll kill myself to win it.”
As for Nola, “He’s very competitive. Lot of fire,” Thomson said.
An example: Nola had a rough fifth inning Tuesday, so Thomson approached him in the dugout and asked how he felt.
Nola glared at him: “I’ve got to get ahead of these guys.”
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He threw strike one to the next six Astros batters, all of whom he retired.
Nola is as aware of Pettitte as he was of Schilling.
Asked what pitcher held the record for wins and innings in the postseason, he replied instantly:
“Pettitte.”
Of course, more than 200 wins hasn’t earned Schilling or Pettitte (256-153 career record) a Hall of Fame plaque. But that’s OK. At 166⅓ innings this season, Nola is on pace to approach 200 innings for the fifth time in the last six full seasons. Schilling had 200 innings nine times; Pettitte 10 times.
“I see the similarity,” Nola said, “but, honestly, I don’t really try to emulate him. Or anybody.”
Not on purpose, anyway.