The team announced Saturday that Philadelphia Phillies Ace Zack Wheeler will miss the remainder of the season, expected to be six to eight months after being diagnosed with IV thoracic outlet syndrome.
The 35-year-old right-hander had surgery this week to eliminate blood clots on his shoulder. Venous thoracic outlet – a rare subtype of compression disorders that can be repaired surgically, which traps in compression disorders and causes blood clots – Wheeler recommends that he return when it opens in 2026. Surgery usually requires surgical procedures.
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“It's disappointing, but everyone knows it's out of control,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson told reporters Saturday. “We're glad he'll be healthy because it's a very serious thing he's going through.”
Losing Wheeler the rest of 2025 is a major blow to the Phillies championship hopes. Wheeler has been the best pitcher in baseball since signing with the Phillies before the 2020 season, a main player whose precise command and all sorts of high octane stuff brings his low-era and high strikeouts to the total.
Wheeler has been a staunch man in the Phillies rotation, having been fully complementary in four of his five seasons and ended regularly at the top of the Cy Young vote. He turned a typical season, hitting a major league-high 195 in the 149-inch game, allowing less than a 2.71 ERA inning.
Along with left-handed Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez and Jesus Luzardo, and right-handed Aaron Nola and Taijuan Walker, Phillies have enough starting depth to avoid losses. They can also finally call up top pitching prospect Andrew Painter to strengthen a pitcher who added more recent Jhoan Duran and Setup Man David Robertson in the last month.
“Losing Zack Wheeler is your number one pitcher, and it's never good,” said Dave Dombrowski, president of Phillies Baseball Action. “I think we've started pitching depth and being able to pitch for us. Once again, you're never going to replace someone like that. … I have pitchers in all different types of scenarios. We have a great balloon and we're looking for other people to strengthen and pick up slack for us.”
75-54, Philadelphia led six games in the previous National League for the New York Mets and is currently ranked second in the NL playoffs.