Phillies ace Zack Wheeler underwent a procedure Monday morning to remove a blood clot in his “right upper extremity,” the team announced. Wheeler was initially placed on the injured list following Saturday’s game in Washington. As of Monday afternoon, the Phillies have yet to disclose or develop a timetable for a possible return to the mound, but did convey that the procedure was deemed a success.
During his pregame availability with the media Monday afternoon, Phillies manager Rob Thomson was asked whether he thought Wheeler, indisputably one of the game’s best pitchers, would pitch again this season.
“We don’t know,” Thomson said. “We don’t know until we get further information.”
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season]
The serious nature of Wheeler’s condition means that Thomson and the Phillies have, understandably, been most concerned with the hurler’s general well-being. Blood clots, left untreated, can be life-threatening, particularly for those who travel often. Monday’s announcement of a successful surgery appears to be positive news on that front.
“A lot of people ask me about the pitching staff and the team, right now my thoughts are just about him. I said the other day, this isn’t like a hamstring or a calf,” Thomson said. “This is real, this is life. So my thoughts are constantly on him and his family. Hopefully everything works out, so far so good.”
Wheeler first reported discomfort after his most recent start, a five-inning outing against the Nationals on Friday night. According to the team, Wheeler felt a heaviness in his shoulder that was abnormal for him. Evaluations the following day uncovered the blood clot.
Though the specifics of his situation are not publicly known, it is very likely that Wheeler will need to go on blood thinners after his surgery Monday. That would almost certainly prohibit him from retaking the mound anytime soon. Playing sports on blood thinners, even a non-contact sport like baseball, is incredibly dangerous due to the increased risk of bleeding.
A similar situation kept San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama off the court for the second half of this NBA season after he was found to have a vein issue in his right shoulder. New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore, the second-highest paid player in franchise history, was diagnosed with blood clots last season. He missed the majority of the season after the diagnosis.
There is a track record, albeit small, of blood clots and vascular issues affecting MLB pitchers. Most often, that manifests in the form of thoracic outlet syndrome, or TOS, a condition where blood vessels and nerves get pinched just below the collarbone. Though Wheeler has not, to this point, been diagnosed with TOS, the procedure he underwent, according to Will Carroll of Under The Knife, is similar and often precedes a similar rehab process.
In August of 2020, current Rangers pitcher Merrill Kelly had TOS surgery to remove a blood clot in his shoulder. The then Arizona Diamondback missed the remainder of that season, but returned the following year and continued to pitch well. Kelly’s experience with TOS varies wildly from, say, that of former Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg, whose career was derailed by the condition. It is worth noting that the type of TOS that afflicted Strasburg, called neurogenic TOS, tends to be much more debilitating than the vascular TOS that Kelly suffered from.
How this all relates to Wheeler remains to be seen.
The 35-year-old right-hander had been in the midst of another superb season. Wheeler currently leads the National League in strikeouts with 195 and slots in fifth in ERA with a 2.71. He was firmly in the mix, alongside Pirates flamethrower Paul Skenes, to win the first Cy Young of his already sensational career.
From a baseball perspective, Wheeler’s absence will undoubtedly inconvenience a Phillies team currently five games up on the New York Mets in the National League East. Wheeler would have been the best pitcher on the NL side of the playoff bracket and surely would have started Game 1 of the team’s first series.
But while Wheeler’s consistent dominance is irreplaceable, the Phillies are relatively well-suited to weather his absence.
Southpaw Cristopher Sánchez looks slated to finish in the top three of NL Cy Young voting as well. He has a sparkling 2.45 ERA across 24 starts. Behind Sánchez, the Phillies have a quartet of dependable options. Ranger Suárez (3.28 in 18 starts) has struggled of late, but had a 10-start stretch over the summer where he was the best arm in MLB. Jesús Luzardo (4.21 in 25 starts) has rolled through ups and downs in his first year with the Phillies, but looks like a frontline arm when he’s on.
Taijuan Walker (3.34 in 15 starts) entered the year as an afterthought, but has delivered a very impressive bounce-back campaign. Aaron Nola (6.92 ERA) returned from the IL on Sunday after missing three months with a foot issue. He was not sharp in his first start back and was underperforming before the injury, but Nola has a long enough résumé to inspire some level of confidence.
Top prospect Andrew Painter (5.15 in 21 MiLB starts) was expected to join the big-league club this summer, but the heralded 22-year-old has underwhelmed in Triple-A. He remains something of a wild card.
None of those characters, obviously, will match the reliability and the impact Wheeler would have provided. Since joining the Phillies in 2020, the bald Georgian leads all qualified MLB pitchers in innings and fWAR. He has established himself as a generational talent, one undeniably worthy of the record-breaking three-year, $126 million contract he received last spring. That $42 million annual average value is the highest in MLB history.
Wheeler has also endeared himself to a fan base, a franchise and the entire Phillies community. He is understated, but wry. Unrelentingly fierce, but kind. Appreciated in his own clubhouse and immensely respected in the 29 others.
