Spring Training officially starts Wednesday for the Phillies with the first pitchers and catchers workouts of the season.
The ballclub is expecting to ramp up some of the work, too, because in less than a month, a dozen guys from Big League camp and three more from the minor league side are heading out to participate in the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
It's a lot of players to be missing. Several of those that went back in 2023 struggled out of the gate in the regular season for the Phillies, or were injured while participating.
So, to lose 11 guys who are guaranteed to be on your Opening Day roster - even if some of them will be eliminated quickly - for any length of time during Spring Training has to have the Phillies holding their breath.
And while manager Rob Thomson admitted that there are hurdles that come with so many guys leaving spring training at the same time, he did think there could be benefits for some players - most specifically Aaron Nola and Taijuan Walker.
"The challenge is getting them ready for the WBC," Thomson said. "Once they get there and they're playing, hopefully they stay healthy. But I think it's a great experience.
"I think it's good for a guy like Nola to get his juices going and get the blood flowing. Same thing with Taijuan. I think for any of those guys, I think it's going to be a great, great experience. Once we get them back, we'll get them back in the flow of things. There's only going to be a couple of teams that are going to stay for a long time, so we'll have a lot of them back because they're spread out through different teams."
Thomson indicating "getting the juices flowing" for Nola is notable. Nola will be pitching for Team Italy, which isn't expected to make a deep run, so he may only get one start. possibly two if they happen to reach the top eight and have a quarterfinal game.
What value remains of Aaron Nola? (For the record, I believe Nola is over-hated)
2025, in a nutshell:
• 4.58 FIP, 94.1 IP, 17.1 K-BB%
• Couple injuries: ankle sprain, rib stress-fracture
• Career-worsts: 9.1 Barrel%, 89.4 avgEV, .246 xBA, .417 xSLG, .315 xwOBA, 43.3 HH%… pic.twitter.com/Qtt5hUapKB
Nola is notoriously a slow starter. He usually takes a little longer to build up his velocity and often has mediocre results in his first five starts of a season.
Last year, was the worst of his career, He was 0-5 with a 6.43 ERA, yielding 34 hits and 11 walks in just 28 innings.
In 2023 he was 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA and a less than stellar 1.357 WHIP.
Even in 2022, which has been Nola's best overall season in this window where the Phillies have contended, he stumbled out of the blocks going 1-3 with a 3.90 ERA, before recovering to finish the season fourth in the Cy Young race.
Only in 2024 did he start well, but the team, in general, was off to the best start in franchise history that year, so to see him post a 3-1 record with a 3.16 ERA and a 1.085 WHIP should be seen as more an outlier tied to the team's level of play than the norm.
The league isn’t ready for even year and bounce back Aaron Nola. pic.twitter.com/HY7emYoAwS
Walker, who comes into spring training as one of the back end of the rotation starters until Zack Wheeler is ready to return to the rotation, or until the Phillies add another starter via trade or free agency, which President of Baseball Operation Dave Dombrowski indicated was a priority for the team, pitched well to start the 2023 season, the last time he pitched for Team Mexico in the WBC.
In his first four starts for the Phillies that season, He went 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA.
Like Nola, Walker shouldn't expect to pitch much in the WBC as Mexico is another team that isn't expected to go far, but even with a limited sample, the Phillies are hopeful that pitching in games that have meaning in early March could provide a boost that has not always been there when games matter for the team beginning later in the month.
The 16 Phillies participating in the WBC are:
There are a few former Phillies also participating in the WBC if you look closely enough:
The one most fans will be feeling the most emotional pangs for is when they watch Ranger Suarez, now of the Red Sox, pitching for Venezuela.
He got hurt pitching for them in 2023 and it derailed the start of his season for the Phillies. He didn't pitch until mid-May and ended up with his worst season as a Phillie.
Three former Phillies relievers will a part of the Bullpen for the Dominican Republic. Seranthony Dominguez, Carlos Estevez and Gregory Soto.
Remember the memorable 52-game stint Johan Camargo had in Philadelphia in 2022? Hey, he got one of John Middleton's runner-up rings! He's playing alongside Sosa for Panama.
One-time catcher Jorge Alfaro will play for Columbia. He'll be joined by a couple guys who pitched in the minors for the Phillies last year who a lot of people thought could eventually pitch for Big League team, although neither ever did - Nabil Crismatt and Guillo Zuniga.
Then there's that guy Harrison Bader. Remember him? He'll start in centerfield for Israel. Another guy on that team that was once in the Phillies organization but never pitched for the team is Robert Stock. He was in the minors for part of the 2019 season. He pitched for the Boston Red Sox last year.
Yacksel Rios, who pitched out of the bullpen for the Phillies for parts of three seasons from 2017-19, will pitch for Puerto Rico.
Michael Lorenzen, who will always be remembered for his no-hitter in his second start as a Phillies in 2023, and not much else (hey, his all white Vans cleats from that game are sitting in a locker in Cooperstown), will join Nola and Nori on Italy. So will Sam Aldegheri, who was one of the two pitchers the Phillies traded to the Los Angeles Angels for Estevez at the 2024 trade deadline.
Didi Gregorius, 35, who after a brief stint in Triple-A with the Seattle Mariners has been playing in the Mexican League since leaving the Phillies in 2022, will man third base for Netherlands.
Believe it or not, the ace for the Great Britain staff will once again be Vance Worley. The Vanimal, now 38, hasn't pitched in the Majors since 2017 and not for the Phillies since 2012, also hasn't pitched in an organized league since 2022.
Vance Worley strikes out Mike Trout in Trout's first WBC AB. pic.twitter.com/VMSwJw2C15
And yet, he'll likely be the guy taking the hill against Mexico in Houston on March 6.
But that's not even the craziest former Phillie scheduled to participate.
How about Phillippe Aumont? The top prospect the Phillies got from the Mariners in the Cliff Lee trade in 2009 but failed to stick after appearing in games across four seasons for the Phillies from 2012-2015, is pitching for Canada.
Now 37, Aumont hasn't pitched in an organized professional league since 2019. And yet, he's on a roster for the WBC. Crazy.
