BATON ROUGE, La. – Philadelphia Phillies ace right-hander Aaron Nola, a former LSU All-American, has been named 2018 Pro Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.
Nola, a 2018 Cy Young Award finalist, is coming off the best season of his young career, going 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA in the midst of a pennant race for the Phillies, making 33 starts and hurling 212.1 innings, third-most in the National League. His ERA was second in the NL behind Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets (1.70).
Nola is the first homegrown Phillies pitcher ever to finish in the top three in Cy Young voting. Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, acquired from other organizations, finished second and third in 2011. Halladay was the last Phillies pitcher to take home a Cy Young Award, in 2010.
Nola, a native of Baton Rouge, was selected out of LSU by the Phillies in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2014 MLB Draft. He was the 2014 College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year and a Golden Spikes Award finalist.
Nola enjoyed a brilliant three-year (2012-14) career at LSU, compiling a 30-6 mark and a 2.09 ERA in 332 innings with 42 walks and 345 strikeouts. He was a two-time first-team All-American, and he is the only two-time winner of the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year award, receiving the honor in both 2013 and 2014.
Article courtesy of LSU Sports Information Department.