Zack Wheeler To Miss Estimated 6-8 Months
Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler will miss the remainder of the 2025 season after learning of the news of a blood clot in his right upper extremity. Wheeler was diagnosed…
Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler will miss the remainder of the 2025 season after learning of the news of a blood clot in his right upper extremity.
Wheeler was diagnosed with venous thoracic outlet syndrome, and the recommendation is to undergo thoracic outlet decompression surgery. His estimated recovery time will be 6-8 months. The timeline would place him in the range for a return near Opening Day of the 2026 season.
“Of course it’s never good to lose a Zack Wheeler, your number one pitcher. I think we have starting pitching depth that’s capable of pitching well for us and pitching well in the postseason. Again, you’re never going to replace an individual like that, but we go to the postseason in all different type of scenarios with pitchers being out. We have a good ball club with other people to step up and pick up the slack for us.”
-Dave Dombrowski
Rob Thomson and Wheeler’s Phillies teammates have intentionally and admirably shifted the immediate focus away from how their World Series odds have dipped. They’ve instead prioritized stating their concerns for Wheeler’s personal health and his life away from baseball since the news broke.
Zack Wheeler posted a 2.71 ERA in 149 2/3 inning in 2025 before the news of his injury timeline was announced. His 0.935 WHIP ranked fourth among all qualified major league starting pitchers.
He was in the mix as a National League Cy Young candidate. Paul Skenes was the only pitcher with better odds to win the award before the news broke.
“I think it’s disappointing, but I think everybody knows it’s out of our control. We’re happy that he’s going to be healthy because it’s a very serious thing that he went through. I think (the rest of the Phillies) they’re baseball players. They kind of move on. They’ve got a game today, and they’re not going to cancel it. We’ve got another game tomorrow, so we’ve got to keep moving forward.”
-Rob Thomson
