PITTSBURGH - Aaron Nola is one step away from joining the Phillies.
The team's top pitching prospect was promoted to triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday afternoon. Nola made 12 starts this season at double-A Reading. He was 7-3 with a 1.88 ERA. The righthander struck out 59 batters in 762/3 innings.
"We kind of had this date in our mind for a while," said Joe Jordan, the team's director of player development. "There's nothing magical about today versus five days ago. We thought it was important for him to spend the amount of time that he spent in double A.