Aaron Nola will pitch for Team Italy in the WBC, Phillies manager Rob Thomson revealed Wednesday.
Nola surely could have been a part of Team USA’s rotation last WBC, but he wasn’t interested then after a long 2022 season that saw the Phillies go to the World Series. Now he’ll be pitching for an Italian team whose starters last time around were a soon-to-be-retired Matt Harvey, Ryan Castellani and Michele Vassalotti. There’s also been some talk about Chase Burns, who was born in Naples, being part of Italy’s staff this year, though the Reds probably aren’t going to want that to happen.