2025 Player Review: Zack Wheeler

Man, why do injuries have to happen? It’s hard to say whether or not Wheeler’s injury and whether or not it would have happened would have affected the series against the Dodgers, but boy. It really did not help them.

2025 stats

24 G (24 GS), 149 1/3 IP, 2.71 ERA (3.00 FIP), 1.14 HR/9, 33.3 K%, 5.6 BB%, 4.0 fWAR

What went right

Wheeler was having another typical Zack Wheeler season. He was striking hitters out at the highest clip of his career, walking hitters less often than he ever has and just taking the ball start after start. Were there weird things going on? Sure. That home run rate is his highest since 2017, which was odd to see. But outside of a bit of spotty command in his last few starts of his season, nothing was really out of the ordinary for Wheeler.

Until…

What went wrong

Well, I mean….

Without that injury, it’s fair to wonder how this season plays out for the Phillies. Again, it’s probably doubtful that they beat the Dodgers with a healthy Wheeler. He doesn’t hit, after all, and that was the biggest issue with the Phillies in the playoffs.

But let’s play devil’s advocate.

If Wheeler is healthy and going in game one, that puts Cristopher Sanchez in game two and Jesus Luzardo in game three. It does change some of the calculus as far as who is starting the games and who is available as a reliever. Does that make any kind of difference in the eventual outcome of the series? I’m still leaning no, but it does make for some interesting “what if?” questions that can be debated.

The future with the Phillies

The thing about Wheeler’s injury is that a lot of the team’s offseason depends on his health. Publicly, they have not really put a timeline on it outside of the 6-9 month recovery time they stated when it was originally diagnosed and surgically repaired. That would mean he would be ready around midseason.

Yet we keep hearing about how good he is feeling, how he’s going to start playing catch soon, how it’s possible to dream that he could be ready for Opening Day. It’s hard not to think that maybe he can achieve the impossible.

But shouldn’t the team get a little insurance in case he’s not? Dave Dombrowski talked about the rotation not being a priority this offseason when it comes to commanding free agent dollars. That makes sense – the outfield is a mess and the bullpen needs multiple pieces and they probably need a different third baseman. Yet Andrew Painter is no sure thing to be effective should he earn a spot. Ranger Suarez is likely pitching somewhere different to continue his career and Taijuan Walker is still Taijuan Walker.

Counting on Wheeler to come back and be anything more than a #3 starter in 2026 is probably foolhardy. It’s probably equally as foolhardy to count him out, but good teams give themselves insurance. While Wheeler is one of the few that I would kind of expect to reach his former level of excellence, the team would be wise to make sure they are prepared if he does not.