AARON NOLA CHRISTIAN FAITH

Aaron Nola is a Christian athlete, a born-again believer who has placed his faith in Christ to save him. He had the second-highest ground ball percentage among National League pitchers (50.6%), behind only teammate Jake Arrieta. He joined Grover Cleveland Alexander as the only Phillies pitchers to strike out 200 or more batters and hold opponents to a batting average of .200 or lower in a season, and became the fourth Phillies pitcher to strike out 224 or batters in a season, joining Alexander, Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, and Curt Schilling.This week we focus on Aaron in "It's Just a Chapter." Though Aaron is a pitching ace for the Philadelphia Phillies,
he not immune to problems and challenges that every person faces.

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ABOUT AARON...

On May 9, 2018, Nola struck out a career-high 12 batters against the San Francisco Giants, in seven innings. He was named to the 2018 National League All Star team after posting an 11-2 record and 2.41 ERA in his first 18 starts of the season. On July 9, Nola notched his 36th career win in a 3-1 victory over the New York Mets, tying him with Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander for most wins in a Phillies pitcher's first 79 career starts. With this win, Nola also became the first Phillies pitcher to earn 12 wins and have an ERA under 3.50 in the team's first 89 games of a season since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1916.

For the 2018 season, he was 17-6 in 33 starts (2nd in the National League), with a 2.37 ERA (2nd) in 212.1 innings (3rd). Nola gave up 0.975 walks plus hits per inning pitched (3rd in the league; and 2nd-best for any Phillies pitcher in the prior 100 years), his 17 wins, .739 win-loss percentage, and 6.316 hits given up per 9 innings pitched (4th-best for any Phillies pitcher ever) were all 4th in the NL, he had 224 strikeouts and gave up 0.721 home runs per 9 innings pitched (5th), and his 2.458 walks per 9 innings pitched, 9.495 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched, and 3.862 strikeouts/walk were 8th in the league.

He had the second-highest ground ball percentage among National League pitchers (50.6%), behind only teammate Jake Arrieta. He joined Grover Cleveland Alexander as the only Phillies pitchers to strike out 200 or more batters and hold opponents to a batting average of .200 or lower in a season, and became the fourth Phillies pitcher to strike out 224 or batters in a season, joining Alexander, Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, and Curt Schilling.

Nola came in third in the voting for the NL Cy Young Award, behind Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. He came in 13th in the voting for National League Most Valuable Player.