Phillies pitching coach Bob McClure announced that Aaron Nola will make his first start of the 2017 spring training schedule Thursday when they return to Dunedin to face the Blue Jays. It will be Nola’s first in-game action since July 28 of last year.
Nola, who missed the last two months of the season due to an elbow strain, will be the last of Philadelphia’s five expected major-league starters to make their spring debut. Jeremy Hellickson and Jerad Eickhoff already made starts while Clay Buchholz and Vincent Velasquez will make their debuts Tuesday and Wednesday.