Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler underwent a successful removal of a blood clot near his throwing shoulder, the club announced Aug. 18.
Wheeler, 35, was placed on the injured list Aug. 16 by the Phillies after complaining of ‘heaviness,’ as an athletic trainer said, following his start the night before. Subsequent examinations by doctors in Washington revealed the clot.
A timeline for Wheeler’s recovery has not yet been determined, the team said, and manager Rob Thomson told reporters he won’t know if and when Wheeler can return to the mound this season until they receive more information.
Wheeler, the 2024 National League Cy Young Award runner-up and Philadelphia’s undoubted ace, had complained of shoulder soreness that resulted in an Aug. 8 start getting pushed back two days, but the club indicated the clot was not related to his pitching-related malady.
The pitcher underwent a thrombolysis procedure, which Penn Medicine defines as a treatment that dissolves blood clots to restore normal blood flow; the thinners are administered intravenously or directly into the blood clot through a catheter.
‘A lot of people ask me about the pitching staff and the team, and right now, my thoughts are just about him,’ says Thomson. ‘Like I said the other day, this isn’t a hamstring, or a calf. This is real. This is life.’
Phillies’ pitching plans without Zack Wheeler
The club was set to go to a six-man rotation with the Aug. 17 activation of Aaron Nola, and Thomson indicated that may still be a possibility, noting that he watched a playback of top prospect Andrew Painter’s start at Class AAA the previous night.
For now, Nola, left-handers Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo and veteran righty Taijuan Walker comprise the rotation.
Zack Wheeler: Stats
Wheeler was closing in on a second consecutive 200-inning season before he was placed on the IL. After striking out 12 and pitching a one-hitter July 6 at Cincinnati, Wheeler had a 2.17 ERA in 18 starts, pitching into the seventh inning in eight of them.
In his six starts since, including a five-inning outing on Aug. 15 that preceded his IL placement, Wheeler has failed to complete six innings in three of them, with a 4.55 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP, compared to his season-long 0.94 mark.
The Phillies remain five games ahead of the New York Mets in the NL East.