Zack Wheeler

BIOGRAPHY

Zack Wheeler was born May 30, 1990, in Smyrna, Georgia. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

Wheeler was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the first round, sixth overall, in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. He signed with the Giants, foregoing a commitment to attend Chipola College.

Wheeler pitched for the Augusta Greenjackets of the South Atlantic League, the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. With the Greenjackets, Wheeler went 3–3 with a 3.99 ERA in 58 2⁄3 innings pitched. He also participated in the 2010 Futures Game in Anaheim, California, representing team USA.

Wheeler made his major league debut on June 18, 2013, in the second game of a day-night doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, located less than an hour from where he grew up. Wheeler earned a 6–1 victory by pitching six scoreless innings, while allowing four hits, walking five and striking out seven. On August 15, Wheeler struck out a career high 12 batters while allowing one run on seven hits in six innings of work against the San Diego Padres. Wheeler finished his first season in the majors at 7–5 with a 3.42 ERA in 17 starts.

Wheeler returned to the Phillies for the 2021 season. In his season debut on April 3, Wheeler struck out 10 batters in 7 innings, the first time he recorded a double-digit number of strikeouts with the Phillies. Additionally, he became the first Phillies pitcher to have two or more hits and RBIs in a single game since Ben Lively in 2017. On May 29, Wheeler struck out a career-high 14 batters, becoming the third pitcher in Phillies history, following Steve Carlton and Curt Schilling, to strike out 10 or more batters in three consecutive starts. A wild pitch from Sam Coonrod in the eighth inning, however, caused the Tampa Bay Rays to win the game 5–3. After posting a 2.05 ERA in his first 17 starts and leading the league with 139 strikeouts in 114 innings pitched, Wheeler received his first MLB All-Star Game selection in 2021. When Mets ace and former teammate Jacob deGrom announced that he would not attend the All-Star Game, some fans speculated that Wheeler would be chosen to start for the National League team; the honor was ultimately given to Max Scherzer of the Nationals, with Wheeler making an appearance at the top of the ninth inning to strike out Matt Olson and retire the side. Wheeler led MLB with a career-high 213+1⁄3 innings, finishing the season 14-10 with a 2.78 ERA as well as a league-leading three complete games, two shutouts, and 849 batters faced. Fanning 247, Wheeler also became the first Phillies pitcher to capture the NL strikeout title since Curt Schilling in 1998. Wheeler finished second in NL Cy Young Award voting behind Corbin Burnes. He was named a finalist for the 2021 NL Gold Glove Award at pitcher, but it was won by Max Fried.

In 2022, he was 12-7 with a 2.82 ERA in 153 innings with 163 strikeouts over 26 starts, and his career 0.812 home-runs-per-9-innings was 4th-lowest among active major league pitchers.

In 2023, his win-loss record improved to 13-6. He struck out 212 batters in 192 innings and earned his first career Gold Glove Award. He relied primarily on his fourseam fastball (44% of the time) and slider (27%), while also mixing in a sinker and curveball.

On March 4, 2024, Wheeler signed a three-year, $126 million contract extension with the Phillies.