Reports surfaced on Friday morning that the Philadelphia Phillies will be calling up top pitching prospect Aaron Nola to start Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. With Nola’s call-up, and the previous arrival of Maikel Franco, the Phillies are finally facing the music and preparing for the future. Prior to this move, it seemed that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was content to send Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz and Jeff Francouer out every single day until they were ready to be put in the ground.

Ever since Amaro Jr. took over for Pat Gillick as general manager, it’s been one bad decision after another, to the point he has taken a team that won five consecutive NL East Division titles and dragged them down to the worst team in baseball in four short years. Amaro Jr.’s biggest issue was sticking with the the veterans too long and not capitalizing on opportunities to trade them for prospects. As a result, the Phillies are an extremely old team, and the farm system is relatively dry.

The Phillies selected Nola out of LSU with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. Nola throws a low-90s fastball from a three-quarters arm slot, which adds great movement to the pitch. He also possesses a plus slider and solid changeup, which helps to keep hitters off-balance. Nola’s biggest strength is his accuracy as he’s only walked 28 batters in 164.2 career innings. For his minor league career, Nola is 14-7 with a 2.57 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and a .241 batting average against.

With Nola and Franco already in tow, look for the Phillies to also call up top prospect, shortstop J.P. Crawford, this season as well. It’s time to begin taking aim at the future, and using the second half of an already lost season is a perfect way to get your best prospects valuable major league experience.

Jason Fletcher is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.