Nola is scheduled to start and throw around 35 pitches in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays, Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The projected 35-pitch count signals that Nola is well on his way to getting stretched out for a starter's workload by the time the Phillies' April 8 regular-season opener versus the Athletics arrives. Nola is coming off a down 2021 fantasy season in which he submitted the second-worst ERA of his career (4.63), but most underlying indicators (3.37 xFIP, 3.26 SIERA, 24.6 K-BB%) point to him pitching just as effectively as he had in previous years. He likely won't come at a major discount at the draft table, but fantasy managers can invest in Nola with a good deal of confidence that his ERA will bounce back to some degree.