Zack Wheeler: The Greatest Pitcher Of This Era?

Everyone knows how great Zack Wheeler is. He is not underrated in the traditional sense. But do we really appreciate how great he truly is? Do we treat him like the generational talent he is? Does he get the type of national attention he deserves, given how truly great he is?

Zack Wheeler is not just great. He is the best pitcher in the league since he joined the Phillies. That is not me wearing Phillies colored glasses. It is not being a homer. The facts back it up. Take his stats since 2020, put them up against any pitcher in baseball, and he comes out on top.

Only 3 pitchers in that time have a sub-3.0 ERA. Wheeler, Corbin Burnes, and Max Fried. Fried pitched 170 fewer innings than Wheeler—almost an entire extra season for Wheeler. Burnes is closer to Wheeler. 30 fewer innings, a slightly better ERA, a marginally worse WHIP, and a worse FIP.

FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) attempts to measure a pitcher's performance while taking outside factors out, i.e., ballpark factors, the defense behind them. It is not a perfect stat, but it is something to consider. Wheeler has the lowest FIP since 2020.

What Wheeler undoubtedly has over Burnes and Fried, though, is post-season success. Wheeler's post-season ERA is 2.18 over 11 starts. Fried's post-season ERA is up over 5.0. Burnes is better than Fried, but only started 3 games, 1 of which went poorly.

Two starters, Ian Anderson and teammate Ranger Suarez, have a better ERA with at least 1 start in the playoffs. But Wheeler has nearly twice the innings pitched as they do, despite only pitching 3 more games. The only other pitcher with 10 postseason starts and a sub-3.0 ERA over that time is Gerrit Cole. Cole's ERA is still .75 points higher than Wheeler's.

Wheeler is one of only 10 pitchers to throw for over 800 innings in that time. His 893.1 innings are second behind only Aaron Nola. He, Nola, and Framber Valdez are the only pitchers to throw 800 in the regular season and at least 50 in the postseason.

Many people think wins are an outdated pitcher stat. But if you still value it, Wheeler has the most regular-season wins in that time (64) and is 13th in playoff wins (4).

Want something more new school? His 26.5 WAR not only leads all pitchers in that time, but only 7 hitters have a better WAR than him in that time. Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto, Jose Ramierez, Franchisco Lindor, Shohei Ohtani, and Mookie Betts.

Wheeler is also 4th in strikeouts (979), 8th in complete games (3), has the 3rd lowest walk rate (5.6%), and the lowest WHIP (1.02).

All this while the BABIP against him is one of the highest in the league, meaning his defense actively hurts him. Not surprising when you consider he had Kyle Schwabrer in left for 2 seasons, Trea Turner at SS now for 2+ seasons, a grabbag of people in center, some of whom were not very good with the glove, Bohm at 3rd (though he has gotten better), and Rhys Hoskins at 1st for 3 seasons. Not to mention playing in a not-so-pitcher-friendly ballpark.

The point is, Wheeler, by almost any metric, is the best pitcher of this decade so far. Since he joined the Phillies he is the most consistently dominant pitcher in the league. Not only in the regular season, but in the post-season too. You can use old-school stats, or new-school stats. They both tell the same story.

The Phillies have the best pitcher in the league. Yet we almost take it for granted. It is ho-hum for us. Jayson Stark even called him the most under-hyped Superstar of modern times in this town.

Looking at the stats, it is hard to argue with Stark. Maybe it is because the man himself is so understated. He does not make a fuss about himself. He goes out there and pitches, and that is really all we ever see of him.

Wheeler is a truly generational type of pitcher. Despite never winning a Cy Young, he is the best pitcher in the league over the past 5+ seasons. Whether you go by ERA, WHIP, WAR, Wins, Innings Pitched, or playoff performance, they all point to the same conclusion. Wheeler is not just good, he is not even just great, he is the best pitcher of this era right now.

Some young guys like Paul Skenes are still making their mark on the league. He has not had the time to prove he is better. Skenes and other young, budding superstar pitchers very well might have the consistency and longevity to surpass Wheeler.

But compare Wheeler to people who have been in the league since 2020, and he is better than all of them.