For a pair of pitchers returning from injuries, Saturday was a good day. Zack Wheeler (thoracic outlet syndrome surgery) and Orion Kerkering (hamstring) both threw live batting practice at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater Saturday morning and both looked comfortable.

For Wheeler, it had been one day shy of exactly seven months since he faced live hitters. He threw about 20 pitches and mixed in a full array of his arsenal. His velocity was reportedly around 93, which is above where it has been in his bullpen sessions which he started recently, and about three mph lower than his usual velocity.

“Felt a little bit more in sync,” Wheeler told Lochlahn Marsh of the Inquirer after the session. “I was just a little off sync and just trying to fight the timing and all that type of stuff, so I was hoping once I faced some hitters that it would kind of sync up and everything seemed like it did. I’m happy with today, getting through it healthy, and actually accomplishing what I was looking to do.”

Wheeler threw to Otto Kemp, Rafael Marchan, and Garrett Stubbs. The next live BP for Wheeler will likely be an up-down session to simulate throwing more than one inning. It’s not out of the question that Wheeler could beat the May 1st target that had been set for his return and join the rotation in about a month.

Orion Kerkering threw his second live BP on Saturday and also had good results. He is scheduled to pitch in a Grapefruit League game on Tuesday, and he is hoping to be ready to go for Opening Day and not need time on the injured list.

Kerkering worked on adding a splitter to his weaponry over the winter and put it to use in the live BP on Saturday. He also threw it on Tuesday and was looking for input from hitters about the pitch and that news was encouraging. Kerkering had feared he was tipping the pitch, but Marchan said he did not notice anything that Kerkering was doing that would give away when he was throwing the pitch.

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