Source: Rich Schultz / Getty
Aaron Nola, a seventh overall pick in the 2014 MLB draft, has spent his entire career in Philadelphia. After every season, Nola kept a few things in his locker, knowing he’d be back for the next season. However, after a painful Game 7 NLCS loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Aaron Nola would clear all his belongings out of his locker room.
Becoming a free agent for the first time in his career, Nola was uncertain a return to would be likely.
“It was hard that night we lost. I went back home, just thinking about all the memories and stuff, it kind of rolled through my head. Looking at the city, I looked out the window and I was like, ‘Gosh, we might not be here.’ That’s the reality.”
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said he “wasn’t confident” they would re-sign Nola, but he always referred to Nola as their No. 1 offseason priority. Dombrowski felt it was imperative to resign Nola for the best odds at getting back to the World Series before any other team could benefit from his services.
“It was most important that we kept him for ourselves, but I sure wouldn’t have wanted him to go to Atlanta either,” Dombrowski said. “Somebody that’s in your own division. There were other clubs that were interested in him, too. There were a lot of them. We would not look forward to facing a pitcher of his ilk against us by any means.”
Source: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty
The Phillies announced their resigning of Aaron Nola via X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The past two years, we’ve gotten pretty close,” Nola said. “We obviously have the team to do it. To make that next step is obviously my goal, it’s everybody in that clubhouse’s goal. That was a big reason that I came back. There’s nothing like playoff baseball, especially in this town. It’s really addicting to be out there and play in front of this crowd. I think I’m speaking for everybody in our clubhouse: We just want to win it for this city and win it for this organization.”
“This is the most comfortable place for me,” he said. “Everybody in this organization is so good and has been so committed to winning and committed to the players. The relationships that I’ve made, that’s going to last a lifetime, and I feel like it would be hard to get away from those people.”
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Aaron Nola on Resigning with Phillies: ‘Most comfortable place for me’ was originally published on rnbphilly.com