Philadelphia Phillies Insider Gives Injury Update on Zack Wheeler
When will Zack Wheeler return to the Philadelphia Phillies lineup?
Video Transcript
Mac Gelb of The Athletic recently made an appearance on MLB Network and gave a pretty encouraging injury update on Zach Wheeler.
He said that the Phillies are overall seem pretty optimistic about the recovery and the rehab that Wheeler's had and his ability to hopefully get back on the field sooner rather than later this year.
Gelb said, and I quote, "With this kind of procedure, I think there's going to be cautious.
I don't think Zach Wheeler is going to be on the roster opening day, but I think it's going to be closer to April one than June one.
If I had to take a guess, I think it'd be sometime around May one.
I think it's probably what they're targeting for, and that's one of the reasons why they haven't added a ton of rotation depth this off season.
I think they are confident that Wheeler is going to be back sooner rather than later."
Overall, obviously, this is really exciting news for the Phillies.
The fact that it sounds like Wheeler could be on the mound closer to that May first date, rather than in the middle, middle of the season, like the original timeline possibly said it could be for him.
Now, and on top of that, it makes a lot of sense that the Phillies have really not been targeting many st- starting pitchers on the free agent or trade market this season, if they believe Wheeler is going to be back with the team within the first month and a half or two months of the year.
Now, as Gelb said, there obviously is going to be optimism with this.
Wheeler is thirty-five years old.
This is a very major injury that he's coming off of, but it certainly sounds like the Phillies are optimistic about him being the least half of the same pitcher he was before going down with the injury last August.
