Phillies: 10 players to be thankful for this Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, there are several Phillies players to be thankful for.

Just about every aspect of life this past year has been unprecedented and anything but the norm. As families socially distance this Thanksgiving, this is only a reminder of the current struggles we face as a society. But, we will overcome his battle; hopefully, things will return to normal sooner than later, such as attending Philadelphia Phillies games in person at Citizens Bank Park.

Click through to see 10 players each Phillies fan should be thankful for this holiday season.

10. Aaron Nola

It is hard to believe but right-handed starting pitcher Aaron Nola is already six seasons through his big-league career, having first debuted more than five years ago opposite the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Phillies drafted the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native seventh overall in the 2014 draft, and he only needed a little over a year in the minors before receiving the call-up. In a starting rotation filled with inconsistency — arguably since the 2011 season, since the team last made the postseason — Nola has been a reliable, Cy-Young caliber arm.

Through 139 starts, Nola has gone 58-40 with a 3.47 ERA, 1.164 WHIP, and 922-258 strikeouts-to-walks ratio spanning 842 2/3 innings. Nola finished third in the Cy Young race in 2018, a season in which he went 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA across 33 starts; this past season, he finished seventh, going 5-5 with a 3.28 ERA and an MLB-best two complete games.

Nola will begin the 2021 season the same age as his jersey number, 27; he is still young with many promising years still ahead of him. Perhaps, new pitching coach Caleb Cotham can unlock even more potential out of the veteran ace.