Zack Wheeler

Zachary Harrison Wheeler (born May 30, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the New York Mets.

Wheeler was born to a baseball-playing family in Smyrna, Georgia, but moved to Dallas, Georgia, shortly before the start of high school.

Wheeler was born on May 30, 1990, in Smyrna, Georgia, and was raised in Dallas, Georgia, by Barry and Elaine Wheeler.

Wheeler's father played amateur baseball for 15 years, while his mother continued playing competitive softball even after having children, going so far as to placing a playpen in the dugout during weekend tournaments.

Zack was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom grew up playing baseball.

His oldest brother, Jacob, stopped playing sports in high school after undergoing a series of surgeries for supraventricular tachycardia, while his middle brother, Adam, was a minor league pitcher in the New York Yankees farm system until he suffered a torn glenoid labrum.

The Wheeler family moved to Dallas, Georgia, when Zack was 13 years old.

Rather than attending Campbell High School like his brothers, Wheeler attended East Paulding High School, where he played baseball and basketball.

As a junior in 2008, Wheeler posted an 8–3 win–loss record, with a 1.31 earned run average (ERA) and 127 strikeouts in 64 1⁄3 innings pitched, and was named the Georgia High School Association 4A Region Pitcher of the Year.

The following season, he set a school record with 149 strikeouts in 76 innings, in addition to posting a 9–0 record and 0.54 ERA, and was named the Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year.

As a designated hitter, Wheeler also had a batting average of .280 during his senior year.

There, he pitched for East Paulding High School, leading the team to a state playoff appearance in 2009 and pitching a no-hitter against Mill Creek High School.

The San Francisco Giants selected Wheeler sixth overall in the 2009 MLB Draft, and he elected to sign with the team rather than honor his previous college baseball commitment for Kennesaw State.

During the second round of 2009 Class 5A state playoffs, Wheeler pitched his first no-hitter, against Mill Creek High School.

The San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB) selected Wheeler in the first round, sixth overall, of the 2009 MLB Draft.

At the time, he had committed to playing college baseball at Kennesaw State.

On August 17, 2009, however, Wheeler chose to sign with the Giants, a deal that included a $3.3 million signing bonus.

Wheeler played for Giants' minor league teams in 2010 and 2011 before he was traded to the Mets in July 2011.

Wheeler was assigned to the Class A Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League to start the 2010 season.

He was placed on the disabled list early in the year with a fingernail injury on the middle finger of his throwing hand.

After six weeks without play, Wheeler was sent to San Francisco to see the team's hand specialist.

He later returned to the GreenJackets, making several relief appearances before re-entering the starting rotation.

In 21 games with Augusta, including 13 starts, Wheeler posted a 3–3 record and a 3.99 ERA, with 70 strikeouts in 58 2⁄3 innings.

He also made an appearance at the 2010 All-Star Futures Game in Anaheim, California.

Prior to the 2011 season, Baseball America named Wheeler the number two prospect in the Giants organization, and declared that he had the "best fastball" in the farm system.

He was assigned to the Class A-Advanced San Jose Giants, with whom he went 7–5 with a 3.99 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 16 starts and 88 innings pitched.

He also appeared in the 2011 California League All-Star Game.

On July 28, 2011, the Giants traded Wheeler to the New York Mets in exchange for veteran outfielder Carlos Beltrán and cash.

Giants general manager Brian Sabean said that they chose to trade Wheeler rather than a position player because, "[w]e didn't think (Zack) Wheeler was going to impact our situation in the immediate future. Quite frankly, it's our job to find another Wheeler or develop another Wheeler."

He spent the remainder of the season with the Class A St. Lucie Mets, where he went 2–2 with a 2.00 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 27 innings across six starts.

The Mets assigned Wheeler to the Double A Binghamton Mets of the Eastern League at the start of the 2012 season, with the intention of allowing him to steadily progress through the farm system.

He emerged as the star of that season's Binghamton pitching rotation, leading the Eastern League with a 25 percent strikeout rate.

Wheeler then rose through the Mets' farm system, making his major league debut in 2013.

Wheeler's development came to a sudden halt after he tore his ulnar collateral ligament during spring training in 2015.

In 2015, East Paulding retired Wheeler's No. 45 jersey.

He underwent Tommy John surgery for the injury, and was expected to return during the 2016 season, but a series of setbacks during his rehabilitation kept Wheeler from returning to the mound until 2017.

Following a 2017 season in which he was limited by injury, Wheeler in 2018 had a career-high number of strikeouts and innings pitched.

He became a free agent at the end of the 2019 season, and signed a five-year deal with the Phillies in December 2019.

Wheeler missed part of the shortened 2020 season with a fingernail injury, but at the start of 2021 became the third pitcher in franchise history to strike out 10 or more batters in three consecutive starts.