Aaron Nola’s ‘a step ahead of last year’ after his first spring start for the Phillies

CLEARWATER, Fla. — About 30 minutes before his start on Sunday afternoon, Aaron Nola threw a bullpen session on the mound just past left field. Last season, he felt like he’d rushed through his pregame work. He’d try to hit a general spot, rather than honing in on every pitch.

He didn’t think it served him. So, on Sunday, Nola decided to slow it down. He controlled his movements and committed those movements to memory. He tried to be more intentional and immerse himself in the details, so when the game started, and the pitch clock began to dwindle, he could better focus on the hitter.

At 1:07 p.m., Nola ramped up the speed. Through two innings, he was on autopilot, retiring all six of the Yankees batters he faced en route to a 4-0 win. He retired three of those six on strikeouts. Of his 33 pitches, 20 were strikes.

It was an impressive showing — albeit for a spring training game — but what stood out the most was Nola’s pace. He seemed like he was in a better rhythm. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham said it was the best he’s seen Nola in a spring training start over the last few years.

Part of this comes from experience — Nola, who is a notoriously slow worker, has now pitched with the clock for a year — but part of it is a change in focus. Last season, the veteran right-hander found himself worrying about his timing. He felt rushed. It impacted his ability to execute, and led, in part, to a higher walk rate and home run rate.

Now, he has his pregame bullpen sessions to go as slow as he wants. To think through every pitch and every decision before the clock takes over. It seems counterintuitive, to go slow so you can go fast. But it works for Nola.

“It helps, because I’m a slow worker,” Nola said. “So to detail everything for myself, beforehand, helps me out for when I get on the game mound. So I just want to focus on the hitter, then clock. Rather than clock, then hitter.

“I feel like going through last year, and the ups and downs with it, that’s helped me, too. It got me into a routine of thinking how much time I really have without actually looking at it. So, I feel like this year I know when I catch the ball, get back on the mound, how many seconds I have left. I don’t have to constantly look at the clock over and over again.”

The real test will be when Nola begins to get runners on base. He didn’t have that challenge on Sunday, but when he does, he’ll encounter even less time than he did last spring: Just 18 seconds, rather than 20. The Phillies have equipped him with some mechanical changes to help him stay in the zone.

Cotham often tells his pitchers to use the clock to their advantage, but last September, he encouraged Nola to take that literally. When he was watching tape of Nola, he realized his pitcher was turning over his right shoulder to look at the clock. His shoulders drifted over to the right, as a result, and closed him off.

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So, Cotham gave him a suggestion: Look at the left clock. That would enable Nola to both see a runner on first, and see the hitter, while squaring his shoulders toward the plate. It was an epiphany for him.

“The eyes are one of the most overlooked, but also one of the most important parts of the delivery,” said Cotham. “Because you go where your eyes go.”

“The point is to keep my shoulders and everything straight toward the catcher, toward home plate,” Nola said. “And to keep my eyes looking toward the left rather than the right, because it’s so easy just to look to the right all the time. Because for me, that feels like the closest clock is to the right, but to the left, you’ve got to look a little bit farther. It just keeps my body in line better.”

A change in positioning, a change in the pace of a bullpen, and a change in focus, might seem like little tweaks. But for Nola, they come with big results.

“It requires a little bit of quick thinking, getting ready a little bit faster than what you’re used to,” he said. “And it’s just repetition. We do it over and over again. So it kind of comes natural. So, [I’m] definitely a step ahead of last year.”

Manager Rob Thomson says third baseman Alec Bohm (neck spasms) is feeling better. Thomson said he could have gone to the second game in Fort Myers on Monday against the Twins, but the Phillies will hold him back. … Thomson said that J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper are scheduled to play in Grapefruit League games starting on Wednesday. … Catcher Rafael Marchan continues to battle back discomfort. The Phillies signed veteran catcher Cam Gallagher, a Lancaster native, to a minor league contract to provide catching depth. “We’re doing some stuff tomorrow with [Marchan] to find out a little bit more on what’s going on with it,” Thomson said. “He’s going to be down for a bit. I don’t think it’s season-ending or anything like that, but we need some help around here, and Gallagher was out there, so we went out and got him. He’s a good guy, can catch.”