Zack Wheeler has thoracic outlet syndrome and will have surgery, Phillies announce. He’s out for the year

16 comments

  1. Awful news, all the best to him.

    Not even giving Wheeler an offer was the Wilpons’ last great “fuck you” to every Mets fan, so despite him being in the wrong uniform I’ve appreciated his success, hate seeing this as TOS is no joke.

  4. Just brutal. You want to face the best in the playoffs. And Phillies without Zack significantly hurts them.

  6. So sad. At least his performance issues had a root cause. Hopefully a speedy recovery

  8. That’s awful news, wishing him the best and a speedy recovery but only to return when he is ready, no need to rush.

  11. I had that. I never returned to major league pitching. Primarily because I never started.

  12. Terrible news but his health has always been questionable. People forget that it took him forever to recover from TJ surgery and he developed a bone density condition that required special medication. As a Mets fan I wanted to sign him but there were major red flags with him. He might be back but I doubt he will be the dominant pitcher he had been the last few years.

  13. Daughter recently had it. A violinist.

    For those who don’t know, it is frequently caused by repeated motion (pitching, violin, bowling, boxing) which causes the muscles around the “Outlet” around the top of your ribcage to constrict the vein, artery and/or nerves which pass through the outlet.

    In the case of blood vessels, there are usually clots which help diagnose the problem. In the case of nerves, it may take the doctor months to properly diagnose.

  14. Here is a list of every big league pitcher to have had thoracic outlet surgery and returned to a very good level:

    All the best to Zach Wheeler.

  16. Damn I didn’t know it could be so severe it requires surgery.
    I’ve had that before

Leave a Reply