There’s no such thing of having too much pitching depth, as the Phillies showed this year. Nearly every starter in the rotation fell victim to the injury bug at some point this season. Charlie Morton, Aaron Nola, and Zach Eflin all suffered season-ending injuries. In addition, Mark Appel, whom the team acquired in the Ken Giles trade, also went on the shelf for the year.
Thankfully, Nola and Appel are well into their recovery process at the club’s spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla. Nola suffered what GM Matt Klentak called “a low-grade sprain of his UCL [ulnar collateral ligament ]and a low-grade strain of his flexor,” and he received a PRP – platelet-rich plasma – injection to heal it.