Philadelphia Phillies Ace 'Battling' Himself Right Now During Struggles

The Philadelphia Phillies and their ace are hoping that he's able to fix some of the issues that have caused him problems so far this season.

Apr 26, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola (27) / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Entering their weekend series starting on Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies have a great chance at improving upon their already MLB-best record when they face the Miami Marlins.

And despite the early success this team has had, they are not looking to pat themselves on the back or think their work is done.

In order to maintain this status with their superstar Trea Turner sidelined with a hamstring injury for the next month or so, they'll need everyone to continue performing well.

The Phillies and their ace Aaron Nola are hoping that he can find some things that will improve upon his past outings. He now has the worst ERA in the rotation among pitchers who have started six games or more.

After his disastrous first start of the year when he gave up six earned runs on 11 hits against the Atlanta Braves, it looked like the right-handed veteran was starting to settle in, having gone into the eighth inning his last three starts of April.

However, that hasn't been the case so far in May.

Nola has given up six earned runs across his 9 2/3 innings of work, including getting credited for the loss on Wednesday that snapped Philadelphia's seven-game winning streak.

But, it sounds like he knows the issues that are plaguing him right now and is working to fix it.

"Obviously, trying to get the ball down. I mean, that's kind of what got me to this point. Being able to throw the ball down. I feel like it's just not as consistent right now, but definitely trying to go back to that," the 30-year-old said according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic.

Gelb also noted that Nola feels like he's "battling" himself a bit on the mound with his control issues, something that his manager, Rob Thomson, stated after his latest outing against the Toronto Blue Jays by saying, "He just missed some spots."

Nola has been an effective pitcher throughout the majority of his career and it looks like he's going to have a better performance than what occurred in 2023 when he finished the regular season with a 4.46 ERA and career-high 32 home runs allowed.

If the ace can work through these issues and find his accuracy once again, this rotation should be the best in the league.