Manager Pete Mackanin was happy with Nola's outing Friday despite it being a subpar performance for the young right-hander, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports. "He threw a lot of good changeups," Mackanin said. "And the velocity was important to me. The command will come next. Once he gets to the point where he's commanding his pitches, he's going to be back to where he's supposed to be."
Nola struck out four in 4.2 innings, but also walked four and allowed four runs on four hits. He was hitting 94 mph on the radar gun, which is a good sign after elbow issues torpedoed his 2016 season. The 2014 first-round pick should be climbing up draft boards as confidence in the health of his arm continues to grow.