Aaron Nola doesn't know when he'll be back from the injured list because he's never felt this sort of discomfort before.
The injury that initially sidelined him on May 15 was a more common one, a right ankle sprain. But when the ankle soreness began to subside and Nola started ramping up toward a return 10 days ago, he felt pain in his right side.
He thought it might just be a light strain. Several days later, an MRI revealed a stress fracture in his right rib.
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SIGN UP HERE "It definitely wasn't the news I was expecting," Nola said Friday afternoon, speaking for the first time since the stress fracture was revealed. "It kinda came on stronger when I was getting a little hotter from my ankle."
Nola still feels pain when breathing deeply.
"When I breathe really heavy and my ribcage gets big, and obviously throwing," he said.
He won't throw for at least a couple of weeks. It could be longer. It was already apparent that Nola would not be back by the All-Star break (July 14-17) but it might not be directly thereafter, either.
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"I really don't know," he said when asked about a mid-July return. "I've never had an injury like this before. I feel like it would be different if it was a muscular type of thing."
Nola and the Phillies still don't know what caused the rib injury. He doesn't remember a specific throw or action that caused it. He doesn't know if it was a bodily reaction to overcompensation from the ankle.
"It could have, I'm not really sure, I just know that I felt it more when I started to ramp back up after the ankle felt a little bit better," he said.
"Honestly, I don't really know. I guess it's from throwing and working that area a lot. I'm not sure."
Nola's extended absence will mean a longer-term stay in the big leagues for Mick Abel, who has allowed four runs in 15⅓ innings over three starts with 14 strikeouts. Top prospect Andrew Painter could join the Phillies' rotation soon after the All-Star break.
Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo are healthy, so the Phillies still boast a formidable rotation even without Nola. But the injury affects other pieces of the roster. A deeper rotation with a healthy Nola could have allowed them at some point to explore moving a starter to the bullpen, a much greater area of need. It could have allowed them to explore win-now trades with Abel as the centerpiece. They still can, but now they need every bit of their starting pitching depth.