PHILADELPHIA -- Zack Wheeler has made 32 starts in three of the previous four years, which means he is almost a third of the way through his 2025 season, following Saturday night’s start against the Pirates at Citizens Bank Park.
It was his 10th start of the year.
Wheeler allowed three hits in six scoreless innings in a 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh, giving the Phils a chance to sweep on Sunday. He struck out six and walked one. Wheeler is pitching as good or better than he has in the previous four years, which is saying something, because he finished second for NL Cy Young in both 2021 and 2024.
“All his stuff was good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Ball-to-strike ratio. I mean, it’s the same quotes. You can use the same quotes from the last 20 starts. Fill it in.”
Wheeler (5-1, 2.67 ERA) entered Saturday with 2.0 bWAR, which ranked second in the National League to teammate Jesús Luzardo (2.6). His 1.5 fWAR ranked third in the league to San Francisco’s Logan Webb (2.1) and Luzardo (1.9).
He left the game with a 16-inning scoreless streak and an NL-leading 0.89 WHIP. His strikeout rate (32.8 percent), walk rate (4.9 percent), strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.66) and whiff rate (30.6 percent) are the best marks of his career. He is putting up those marks by filling up the strike zone like never before.
His in-zone percentage (54.5) is the best of his career, easily eclipsing his career rate (50.1 percent).
“There’s nothing really coming into it, saying I’m going to do something,” Wheeler said. “But yeah, command is good, so I’m throwing a lot of strikes. Maybe that’s why I let up so many home runs early on, just because I was throwing a lot of strikes. It’s why walks are down and strikeouts are up. It’s kind of a give-and-take type thing and let’s try to find the middle line.”
Wheeler had his best fastball of the season, ruining Pittsburgh’s slim chances almost immediately. He had hit 98 mph once this season, but did so six times in the first inning alone Saturday, including one that touched 98.8 mph.
It was his hardest pitch in the regular season since Sept. 21, 2022.
“It popped in the first inning,” Wheeler said.
Overall, Wheeler’s four-seam fastball averaged a season-high 96.6 mph, up 1.1 mph from his overall season average. His sinker averaged a season-high 96.2 mph, up 1.7 mph from his overall season average.
“Sometimes, they just explode out of his hand,” said Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott, who went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. “You know if he’s got his A-plus-plus stuff instead of his A-plus stuff, and today was one of those days for sure.”
Wheeler struck out Oneill Cruz looking at a 97.6 mph sinker on the inside corner to start the game. He struck out Andrew McCutchen swinging on a 97.9 mph four-seam fastball for the second out.
Wheeler will ride his fastball when he is feeling it, but he has been mixing his pitches remarkably well, too.
Each one has become a weapon.
Entering Saturday, Wheeler had thrown all six of his pitches at least 9.9 percent of the time: four-seam fastball (41.9), sweeper (12.7), sinker (12.5), splitter (11.7), cutter (11.4) and changeup (9.9). Other than the sinker, opponents are batting .233 or lower against them.
“It feels pretty good,” Wheeler said about his six-pitch mix. “The cutter is still lacking a little bit, glove side, up and in. I’m still working on that. It’s good backdoor to lefties right now. But that’s really the only thing that’s killing me right now is getting that thing up in there and making it move like it needs to.”
It must make a hitter’s head hurt thinking about the many ways Wheeler can attack from the first at-bat through the third or fourth.
“A guy with that many pitches and that many strike pitches, he might save one or two the first time through the order,” Stott said. “Then you think you’ve got him and he busts out the splitter and then he’ll throw the cutter or the slider. That’s what the great ones do. They’ll keep a pitch or two in their arsenal and start using it the second or third time through.”