Phillies’ Aaron Nola inspired by the long road his brother Austin traveled to the major leagues

His brother reached the majors in 13 months, but Austin Nola's path had stalled. So he tried something new.

Austin Nola's long journey to the major leagues has led him to the NLCS as the Padres' starting catcher.Read moreJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

Published Oct. 19, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

SAN DIEGO — Austin Nola played baseball his entire life, but the game was no longer fun. He spent five years in the minor leagues and a call to the big leagues — which his younger brother received three years earlier — didn’t seem imminent.

“I had put everything I could into it,” Nola said. “And I needed a spark.”

Aaron Nola reached the majors just 13 months after being drafted, debuting for the Phillies in 2015 while his older brother was riding the buses in triple A. The older Nola’s path to the majors — which converged Wednesday with his brother’s when they faced off in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series — was a bit less direct.

Austin Nola, 32, started his career as a shortstop, playing the position he always played, in Miami’s farm system after being picked in the fifth round of the 2012 draft. That led to him playing second and third as he moved around the infield trying to find his way out of the minors.

But none of those positions provided the spark Nola was looking for, placing his career at a crossroads. So he tried something new, learned how to catch in 2017, and was in the majors two years later.

“Catching gave me that spark and that new love for the game and how to enjoy it a little bit more and make it less of a job and more of playing,” Nola said. “It’s supposed to be played, and it’s supposed to be fun. That’s what catching does for me.”

The Nolas are just the third set of brothers to face each other in a League Championship Series and the first since Sandy Alomar and Roberto Alomar met in 1997. They faced each other in 2021 during the regular season, but this is different. It’s October.

Austin Nola’s groundout against his brother in the second inning Wednesday was the first postseason hitter-pitcher matchup featuring brothers. But the older Nola got revenge in the fifth with an RBI single to trigger San Diego’s five-run inning.

The brothers met Monday for lunch and talked about how rare their matchup was. They’re enjoying it, the 29-year-old Aaron Nola said, because it might never line up like this again. And it would not have happened without the older Nola pushing his way here.

Austin Nola said his younger brother probably could have pitched for the Phillies in 2014 immediately after they drafted him seventh overall. But the older brother said he needed the minor leagues, where Aaron pitched just 30 games before debuting in South Philadelphia.

“Our journeys are very different, so we don’t relate in that, but our work ethic and how we conduct business is very similar,” Austin Nola said. “And he was able to help me a lot when I first got to the big leagues because he had been a veteran in the big leagues when I first got to the big leagues.”

Austin Nola was a minor-league free agent in January 2019 when he accompanied his younger brother to an event in South Jersey honoring him. By then, Aaron Nola was an established big leaguer, and Austin was 29 years old and didn’t have a team.

“When I was in the minor leagues, I was like, ‘My younger brother has been in the big leagues for five years, and I haven’t tasted it yet,’” Nola said. “He hit some jabs with me — ‘Oh, I have more hits than you in the big leagues,’ and I’m like, ‘I haven’t even been to the big leagues yet.’ We had a lot of fun with it.”

Austin Nola latched on weeks later with Seattle, ready to keep catching after learning the position a year earlier. He called his parents in June — just as Aaron Nola was pitching against Atlanta — and told them he was finally headed to the majors. Aaron Nola finished his start against the Braves and saw a text from his mother.

His older brother — the one who gave him a competitive edge as kids by never letting him win at anything — was joining him in the big leagues.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” Aaron Nola said. “Just a cool moment. Knowing how hard he worked to get to that position, it was really special for our family and for everybody who’s worked with him and who’s known him. It was a cool moment.”

Austin Nola was traded two years ago to San Diego, and he was the team’s starting catcher this season, finding his place in the majors by playing the position that taught him to love the game again. And on Wednesday, he stepped into the batter’s box against the brother he inspired.

“I was fortunate not to be in the minor leagues as long as he was, but he stuck with it,” Aaron Nola said. “And every offseason, when we were with each other, he would always say, ‘I’m going to make it this year. I’m going to keep pushing until I make it.’ He made it a little bit older than some guys do, but he’s here. And he’s in the NLCS at a big stage, and it’s pretty cool.”