The Phillies have spent the last several seasons leaning on their rotation, and Zack Wheeler has been the arm at the center of it all.
Philadelphia knew exactly what it was getting when it signed him away from the Mets ahead of the 2020 season. Wheeler had already spent the first six years of his big league career facing the Phillies, and since landing in Philadelphia, he has gone to another level. Even now, though, he still doesn’t get talked about the way the game’s biggest-name starters do.
That’s what makes Wheeler such a strange case. He keeps piling up elite production, but the awards cabinet doesn’t match the résumé.
Since 2018, he has been the most productive pitcher in baseball by wins and fWAR, and he ranks second in innings pitched, according to Justin Havens on X. Yet he has only three All-Star selections in that span and no Cy Young Award, despite finishing second twice, in 2021 and 2024.
The 2026 season has only added to the case. Through his first 14 starts, Wheeler is 9-1 with a 2.28 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 87 innings. That workload leads all pitchers since he returned this year, and his 4.3 bWAR is already close to the 5.1 he posted in his standout 2025 season.
For the Phillies, the bigger picture is even more impressive. Since the start of the 2020 season, Wheeler has made 171 starts and logged 1,066 innings in Philadelphia.
His line is as clean as it gets: a 2.85 ERA, 149 ERA+, 2.98 FIP and 1.008 WHIP. The record behind it all is 78-38.
Health used to be the concern early in his career with the Mets, but that hasn’t been the story in Philadelphia. He did have a blood clot in his shoulder that ended his 2025 season early and pushed back the start of his 2026 campaign, but when he’s on the mound, he’s been exactly what the Phillies need - a starter who gives them a chance to win every time out.
He won’t add to his All-Star total this year, either. Because he is scheduled to pitch Sunday in the Phillies’ finale, he is ineligible to take part, which makes a replacement appearance unlikely. Even so, the numbers say he should have been in from the start.
Wheeler has been the best pitcher in baseball over a nine-season stretch. He just hasn’t gotten the recognition that usually comes with it.
In Other News...
Zack Wheeler Just Made An All-Star Statement Phillies Fans Will Feel
Zack Wheelers season has been good enough to make the All-Star conversation feel routine, but this one carried a little more edge. The Phillies ace has been one of the best pitchers in the league again, sitting on a 2.28 ERA with a 9-1 record in 14 starts, and he had every reason to be in the middle of the National Leagues midsummer showcase talk.
Instead, Wheelers All-Star saga ended with a statement of its own, one that says plenty about how he views his place among the games elite. For a pitcher who has built this kind of rsum in Philadelphia, the issue was never whether he belonged in the conversation. It was the way the conversation unfolded, and that leaves a different kind of message for the rest of the league. [Read more 🡒]
Former Phillies Starter Vince Velasquez Just Began Another Unexpected Chapter
Vince Velasquezs career has taken another turn, adding a new stop for a pitcher who once spent years in the Phillies rotation. The right-hander, now a 10-year major league veteran, had already resurfaced this season with the Cubs after a long layoff from a regular starting role, and for Philadelphia fans his name still carries the familiar memory of a back-end starter who logged plenty of innings from 2016 to 2021.
The latest move comes after Velasquez made two appearances in Chicago before heading back onto the market, keeping his next chapter open for a while longer. For a pitcher who has bounced through different roles and organizations, the appeal remains the same: one more chance to find a foothold and prove there is still something left in the arm that once made him a fixture in the Phillies rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Just Lost Valuable Draft Ground At The Worst Time
The Phillies draft position for next summer just took a hit, and it comes at a time when every bit of draft capital matters. Because they went over the highest surcharge threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax, their first selection in the 2026 MLB Draft has been pushed back 10 spots to No. 36, a setback that leaves them with less room to maneuver as they keep trying to build around a roster that still has some obvious long-term needs.
Philadelphia has not exactly been shy about chasing pitching help through the pipeline, and this could sharpen that focus even more. With Andrew Painter back at Triple-A Lehigh Valley after a rough big league debut and Aidan Miller sidelined by a back injury, the organization is already dealing with some uncertainty in key developmental spots, which makes losing draft ground feel even more costly when the next class finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]