Bishop Eustace grad Zac Gallen emerging with the Diamondbacks

Zac Gallen bears an uncanny resemblance to Aaron Nola. From the long, curly locks that spill out from the back of his cap to the 6-foot-2 build, even to his mannerisms, the Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander could easily play Nola in a movie — or at least be his stunt double.

“He’s probably a little bit bigger than me,” Gallen said Tuesday, laughing. “But yeah, I have heard that.”

Then you watch Gallen pitch and it becomes clear: He’s nothing less than a leading man.

Gallen, a 2013 graduate of Bishop Eustace, will start Wednesday against the Phillies in the matinee finale of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. It will mark his third career start in the ballpark he visited while growing up in South Jersey. And this time, there will be no denying that he’s among the best pitchers in the National League, perhaps even the early-season Cy Young Award favorite.

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Entering play Tuesday night, he led the league in fielding independent pitching (1.99) and strikeout-to-walk rate (6.0), and ranked third in strikeouts (72), fifth in innings pitched (61) and walks/hits per inning pitched (1.0), and ninth in ERA (2.95). He has six wins, most in the NL, and recently had a 28-inning scoreless streak, the longest in the majors this season.

“Honestly, I just kind of have a better understanding of how things work,” said Gallen, who finished fifth in Cy Young balloting last year. “It’s been a process. I’m a super-feel-oriented guy, whether that’s my foot, my hips. My hands are the biggest thing, just how the ball comes out of my hand and understanding what those cues are for a certain pitch.”

Gallen’s pitch mix is also eerily similar to Nola’s. His average fastball velocity (94 mph) is only in the 33rd percentile among pitchers. But like Nola, he leans heavily on a curveball, as well as a cutter and changeup.

It isn’t a coincidence. Gallen, who turns 28 in August, is two years younger than Nola and met him in 2012 on a recruiting visit to Louisiana State. After choosing to go to North Carolina, Gallen kept tabs on what Nola was doing in Baton Rouge.

“He was the guy at LSU, and it was like, that’s the guy who I was striving to be at Carolina,” Gallen said. “This guy eats innings, strikes out a lot of guys, has a good ERA, all those things that you want to be.”

In 2018, Gallen played with Nola’s brother, Austin, in triple A with the Marlins. Austin Nola was learning to be a catcher, and Gallen leaned on him for insight.

“I would ask him, ‘Hey, what does your brother do in certain instances like this?’” Gallen said. “And he’d tell me X, Y, and Z, and he’d be like, ‘You kind of do some similar things.’”

Gallen grew up rooting for the Cardinals. His earliest baseball memories involved Mark McGwire and later shifted to Albert Pujols and David Eckstein.

But he’s old enough to remember the Phillies’ 2007-11 heyday. And he wasn’t surprised to see Citizens Bank Park rock last fall. His mother, Stacey, even attended Games 3, 4, and 5 of the World Series.

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“She was telling me about it and was like, ‘It’s crazy here,’” said Gallen, who spends most of the offseason in Phoenix. “She was saying, ‘I hope one day you get to play in something that’s like this.’”

Maybe someday. The Diamondbacks are off to a surprising 28-20 start entering Tuesday night’s game. They’re being led by a young core that includes rookie outfielder Corbin Carroll, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, and catcher Gabriel Moreno. Gallen, one of baseball’s best bargains at $5.6 million this season, is under control through 2025.

And on Wednesday, for the only time all season, he gets to pitch back home, with his parents and friends in attendance.

“There’s just a little something different here,” Gallen said. “There’s a lot of energy here. I get to pitch on this field that I came to as a kid. It’s a lot of fun.”

The Phillies optioned reliever Andrew Bellatti to triple A to open a roster spot for newly-acquired right-hander Dylan Covey. Bellatti has a 5.68 ERA in 15 appearances and has walked three batters in four innings since returning from a stint on the injured list with triceps tendinitis.

Manager Rob Thomson said the Phillies want to tweak Bellatti’s pitch mix and speed up his delivery to the plate to prevent teams from running against him as often.

“I don’t think he’s really looked sharp since coming back,” Thomson said. “I really believe this will be good for him because I trust him. He did such a good job for us last year. I’m sure he’ll get back to where he was and get back here.”

José Alvarado (elbow inflammation) is scheduled to throw off the bullpen mound Wednesday. It’s unclear whether the hard-throwing lefty will be back before the end of the upcoming 10-game road trip. ... Ranger Suárez (0-1, 10.50 ERA) will start Wednesday for the Phillies.