If his Sunday rehab start with Reading was his last rehab start, then Zack Wheeler didn’t save the best for last. Wheeler needed 77 pitches to get through just four innings for Double-A Reading, allowing six hits – two were home runs – and four earned runs. Wheeler also walked one and struck out four.
All About the Velo
It needs to be mentioned though that the weather was not conducive to pitching well, although Wheeler pitched in cold, damp weather earlier in his rehab and pitched well. The game was delayed 30 minutes thanks to a quick storm that hit the area just before the game started. At times during the game there was light rain falling and the temperatures were in the mid-40s with a wind that would kick up at times.
The weather was much the same, but with a slightly harder breeze, when Wheeler made his first rehab start with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. That night, Wheeler went three shutout innings and needed just 38 pitches.
On Sunday, Wheeler’s velocity was maxing out around 92 on the four-seam fastball. Back on March 28 in the rehab start with Lehigh Valley, he was just above that and touched 94 on a couple of pitches.
In talking to reporters following the outing, Wheeler downplayed the drop in velocity as being just a part of the return from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he had last August.
“When your velo is down, you have to do other things. I’ve pitched like that before when the velo is down and you have to move the ball around like guys who steadily pitch at that velo. It’s just something you have to do. Guys can hit fastballs. They can hit 100-plus anytime they want. You have to mix things up and hit your spots,” said Wheeler, who in his previous rehab start was hitting 95 with the fastball, just under his usual 96 mph velocity.
What are you doing Friday?
It’s likely that Wheeler will be pitching again somewhere on Friday night. The Phillies had not ruled out having Wheeler throw one more rehab start since there is still time remaining on his rehab assignment of 30 days. If that’s the case, he could pitch again for Double-A Reading or go back to Lehigh Valley to face stiffer competition at the Triple-A level.
The other option would be to activate him and have him pitch the opening game of the series in Atlanta on Friday. Wheeler is from Smyrna, Georgia, not far from Atlanta. Friday’s forecast for Lehigh Valley and Reading Friday night is for temperatures around 50 degrees, but no rain and very little wind. Game time temps in Atlanta Friday should be around 60, also with no rain or wind to be concerned with.
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