PHILADELPHIA -- September is supposed to be about standings, magic numbers and postseason matchups. But inside a clubhouse, it is also an information-gathering month.
Who can help in October? Who can handle a different role? Which numbers matter enough to act upon — and which ones are merely interesting numbers?
The Phillies have all three questions floating around them right now.
One involves a prospect who essentially lost an entire season. Another involves a veteran reliever being prepared to do something he hasn't regularly been asked to do. And then there is Aaron Nola, Garrett Stubbs and a catching split that has become increasingly difficult to ignore — even if Don Mattingly doesn't seem particularly interested in changing anything because of it.
Start in Clearwater.
Miller finally gets back on the field
The most important number from Aidan Miller's weekend wasn't 109.1.
It was five.
Five innings at shortstop.
For the first time since Sept. 18, 2025, Miller played in an actual game Saturday night, beginning a rehab assignment with Single-A Clearwater after a back problem wiped out virtually his entire 2026 season.
He immediately provided the encouraging part. Miller drove the first pitch he put in play for a 109.1 mph double to left field, scored a run and eventually finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout. He also committed an error on the first ball hit to him, but judging Miller's night by a box score would miss the point entirely.
He played.
And after the last six months, that qualifies as significant progress.
Miller entered spring training as MLB Pipeline's No. 15 prospect in baseball and with at least an outside possibility of reaching Philadelphia sometime during 2026. Instead, recurring back pain ultimately was diagnosed as discogenic pain and facet inflammation in his lumbar spine. After repeated attempts to resume baseball activity failed, Miller underwent radiofrequency ablation on June 5. He is now ranked No. 61 overall and No. 2 in the Phillies' system.
So whatever timetable existed in February can be thrown away.
The objective now is simply to accumulate healthy baseball.
Clearwater opens its postseason this week, giving Miller an opportunity for additional at-bats, and the Arizona Fall League remains a possibility depending on how his back responds. The Phillies still believe the 22-year-old can become an important piece of their future, potentially as soon as 2027.
That makes September less about making up for six lost months — that's impossible — and more about making sure those six months don't become seven or eight.
One 109-mph double doesn't restore Miller's development calendar.
But it's a pretty good way to restart it.
Banks is being built for something different
Tanner Banks' rehab assignment has another purpose beyond proving his left forearm is healthy.
The Phillies are stretching him out.
Mattingly said Monday that Banks is being built toward approximately three innings and 40 pitches, which offers a fairly obvious clue about how Philadelphia might envision using him if he returns later this month.
Think less traditional left-handed reliever.
Think more insurance policy.
"The way we are building him now, we look at him as more of an option to come in and throw multiple innings," Mattingly said.
Banks began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Aug. 26 and has worked progressively longer outings. In his latest appearance Friday at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he threw two innings and 31 pitches, allowing one run on two hits and one walk while striking out three. Across his first three official rehab appearances, Banks has thrown 4 2/3 innings, struck out eight and walked one.
MLB lists his potential return for mid-to-late September. He is now eligible to return from the 60-day injured list after going down July 9 with a left forearm strain.
And the three-inning target is worth remembering.
Postseason bullpens aren't always built around seven pitchers each being responsible for exactly three outs. A starter gets knocked out in the third. A game goes 12 innings. Somebody throws 28 pitches the night before. Suddenly, having a reliever capable of getting six, seven or eight outs without wrecking the rest of the bullpen becomes useful.
Banks has done it before. He has seven major-league starts on his résumé and threw 67 1/3 innings across 69 appearances for Philadelphia last season, producing a 3.07 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP.
The complication is that the 2026 version wasn't close to that pitcher before getting hurt.
Banks has a 7.14 ERA and 2.00 WHIP in 29 major-league innings this season, and his struggles were significant enough that the Phillies optioned him to Lehigh Valley in June before recalling him July 4. Five days later, he landed on the injured list.
So this isn't merely a veteran returning to reclaim his old job.
He may be auditioning for a new one.
If Banks can get to 40 pitches, handle multiple innings and resemble the pitcher the Phillies trusted throughout 2025, Mattingly suddenly has another way to navigate the middle of a postseason game.
That's much more valuable than simply adding another left-hander to the bullpen.
And then there's the Nola catcher thing
Aaron Nola threw seven innings of one-run baseball against Atlanta on Sunday.
Garrett Stubbs caught him.
Again.
And yes, the numbers are becoming impossible not to notice.
In 12 starts with Stubbs behind the plate this season, Nola has a 3.39 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 71 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. He has allowed 12 home runs.
In 13 starts caught by J.T. Realmuto, Nola owns a 5.21 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 67 1/3 innings. He has allowed 18 home runs.
That's not a tiny difference.
And this hasn't been a one-week arrangement, either. Realmuto's days off increasingly have fallen on Nola's starts. Back in August, Mattingly acknowledged that the Nola-Stubbs pairing simply seemed to be working and that the schedule conveniently provided Realmuto with rest.
Which creates an interesting October question.
Realmuto is the Phillies' starting catcher. If Nola starts a postseason game, the overwhelming expectation is that Realmuto will catch him.
So Mattingly was asked whether the Phillies need to intentionally get Nola and Realmuto together more often over these final weeks to make sure the pairing is comfortable entering the postseason.
He didn't seem concerned.
Nor did he indicate there was any urgency to manufacture starts together simply because October is approaching.
There is some logic to that. Nola and Realmuto have worked together for years. Familiarity isn't exactly the issue here. Catcher ERA also comes loaded with variables — quality of opponent, location, defense, sequencing, which version of Nola showed up that afternoon — that make it dangerous to declare one catcher responsible for two runs of ERA.
But there is another side to this.
At some point, repeated results stop being something you can dismiss without at least studying them.
Nola has been better with Stubbs this year. Considerably better.
Mattingly doesn't appear ready to turn that observation into a postseason catching controversy, and there is little reason for the Phillies to create one unnecessarily.
But October has a funny way of turning small September curiosities into very large questions.
For now, the Phillies will keep gathering information.
Miller needs innings.
Banks needs pitches.
And Nola?
The Phillies may have already decided that what he needs behind the plate isn't nearly as complicated as the numbers make it look.
Banks began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Aug. 26 and has worked progressively longer outings. In his latest appearance Friday at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he threw two innings and 31 pitches, allowing one run on two hits and one walk while striking out three. Across his first three official rehab appearances, Banks has thrown 4 2/3 innings, struck out eight and walked one.
MLB lists his potential return for mid-to-late September. He is now eligible to return from the 60-day injured list after going down July 9 with a left forearm strain.
And the three-inning target is worth remembering.
Postseason bullpens aren't always built around seven pitchers each being responsible for exactly three outs. A starter gets knocked out in the third. A game goes 12 innings. Somebody throws 28 pitches the night before. Suddenly, having a reliever capable of getting six, seven or eight outs without wrecking the rest of the bullpen becomes useful.
Banks has done it before. He has seven major-league starts on his résumé and threw 67 1/3 innings across 69 appearances for Philadelphia last season, producing a 3.07 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP.
The complication is that the 2026 version wasn't close to that pitcher before getting hurt.
Banks has a 7.14 ERA and 2.00 WHIP in 29 major-league innings this season, and his struggles were significant enough that the Phillies optioned him to Lehigh Valley in June before recalling him July 4. Five days later, he landed on the injured list.
So this isn't merely a veteran returning to reclaim his old job.
He may be auditioning for a new one.
If Banks can get to 40 pitches, handle multiple innings and resemble the pitcher the Phillies trusted throughout 2025, Mattingly suddenly has another way to navigate the middle of a postseason game.
That's much more valuable than simply adding another left-hander to the bullpen.
And then there's the Nola catcher thing
Aaron Nola threw seven innings of one-run baseball against Atlanta on Sunday.
Garrett Stubbs caught him.
Again.
And yes, the numbers are becoming impossible not to notice.
In 12 starts with Stubbs behind the plate this season, Nola has a 3.39 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 71 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. He has allowed 12 home runs.
In 13 starts caught by J.T. Realmuto, Nola owns a 5.21 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 67 1/3 innings. He has allowed 18 home runs.
That's not a tiny difference.
And this hasn't been a one-week arrangement, either. Realmuto's days off increasingly have fallen on Nola's starts. Back in August, Mattingly acknowledged that the Nola-Stubbs pairing simply seemed to be working and that the schedule conveniently provided Realmuto with rest.
Which creates an interesting October question.
Realmuto is the Phillies' starting catcher. If Nola starts a postseason game, the overwhelming expectation is that Realmuto will catch him.
So Mattingly was asked whether the Phillies need to intentionally get Nola and Realmuto together more often over these final weeks to make sure the pairing is comfortable entering the postseason.
He didn't seem concerned.
Nor did he indicate there was any urgency to manufacture starts together simply because October is approaching.
There is some logic to that. Nola and Realmuto have worked together for years. Familiarity isn't exactly the issue here. Catcher ERA also comes loaded with variables — quality of opponent, location, defense, sequencing, which version of Nola showed up that afternoon — that make it dangerous to declare one catcher responsible for two runs of ERA.
But there is another side to this.
At some point, repeated results stop being something you can dismiss without at least studying them.
Nola has been better with Stubbs this year. Considerably better.
Mattingly doesn't appear ready to turn that observation into a postseason catching controversy, and there is little reason for the Phillies to create one unnecessarily.
But October has a funny way of turning small September curiosities into very large questions.
For now, the Phillies will keep gathering information.
Miller needs innings.
Banks needs pitches.
And Nola?
The Phillies may have already decided that what he needs behind the plate isn't nearly as complicated as the numbers make it look.
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