Philadelphia Phillies: Predicting the 2020 rotation

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Zack Wheeler is the Phillies big addition this offseason, and the upside was the big driver in ownership giving him $118 million. Philadelphia has been needing to upgrade the rotation to assist Aaron Nola for years, especially after the Jake Arrieta signing has not worked out the way the organization envisioned.

Wheeler has an above-average fastball that impressed a lot of teams in free agency. A big aspect that I touched on was the potential that he has. I have written multiple times that I believe Wheeler has the ability to morph into a Gerrit Cole-type ace if he is paired with the right pitching coach. Cole was not as amazing as he was with Houston when he was originally a starter with the Pirates, but when he was paired with Brent Strom that was when he became the best starter in the game.

Bryan Price is someone that can help Wheeler like how Strom helped Cole.

Aaron Nola is the ace of the staff and will be for the foreseeable future. He was able to pitch in over 200 innings for the second straight season following his All-Star year in 2018 and led the National League in games started with 34.

Nola can give up the home run at times, as he gave up nearly 30 last season but I wouldn’t read too much into that after the league-wide jump of homers in 2019.

Whenever Aaron Nola steps on the mound, he gives the Philadelphia Phillies a very good chance winning ballgames and that is what you want in your ace.