Finding Bright Spots in Phillies Future

Aaron Nola (Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports)

As many of you may or may not already know, this Philadelphia Phillies season has been as bleak as they come. Last place in the division by what seems like a mile, the best homegrown pitcher in recent memory has been traded away, an over-payed borderline useless first baseman, a manager quitting because he can’t handle the losing, the list can go on and on.

As this season is coming to a close, I decided to take a look toward the future, and try to find the silver lining.

The first silver lining I would like to bring up is the man who will replace Cole Hamels: Aaron Nola. Nola is going to be a cornerstone piece on the Phillies roster for years to come, just like Cole Hamels had been. His debut was almost a month ago, but from that start I could tell he was going to be just like Hamels. No, not because he only let up one earned run and managed to lose, but his command just reminded me so much of Cole.

Although we, the Philly Phaithful, will only get to see Nola every fifth day, we will be in for a treat on that day as I believe that he has the ability to pick up a win every time he takes the mound. Having Aaron Nola is a great start to a promising future.

Next, I want to bring up the young closer that we have, Ken Giles. Giles will be the closer of this organization team for the foreseeable future, and it looks pretty promising. Giles has the composure needed, along with the velocity to be a good contributor to this team. It looks like a lead going into the ninth will be safe as long as we have “Hundred Miles” Giles on the mound.

Finally, I want to discuss two other youngsters the Phillies have. Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco. These two bring pop to a popless batting order. Herrera has become Mr. Two Bagger and Franco is pretty clutch at the plate as well. These two have plenty of room to grow, don’t get me wrong, but they’re so young, the only way they can go is up. Cesar Hernandez and Freddy Galvis have contributed to this young roster as well.

The Phillies roster is far from complete, but with pieces such as Aaron Nola, Ken Giles, Odubel Herrera, and Maikel Franco, the future is happening right in front of our eyes, and man does it look promising.