{"id":665636,"date":"2026-04-06T01:58:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665636\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T01:58:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:58:32","slug":"phillies-boss-offers-2-word-response-on-zack-wheeler-injury-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665636\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Boss Offers 2-Word Response On Zack Wheeler Injury Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Phillies lost the finale of their series with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, but they were able to win their second straight series in Colorado and will look to keep that momentum going as their road trip moves on to San Francisco.<\/p>\n

As the team looks to accumulate early regular season wins and set itself up for a deep playoff run this year, fans can\u2019t help but look ahead to the potential return for star pitcher Zack Wheeler.<\/p>\n

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He saw his Cy Young Award caliber campaign cut short last year when he underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from his throwing shoulder and in the latest step toward his return to the team, he took the mound in a minor league rehab start that did not go as well as some might have hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cPitching for the Triple A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the right-hander worked three innings against the Durham Bulls and threw 49 pitches,\u201d Jim Salisbury reported for NBC Sports Philadelphia<\/a>. \u201cHe allowed four hits, including a homer, and five runs while walking two and striking out one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 Zack Wheeler Raises Fastball Concerns During Rehab Start<\/p>\n

Wheeler\u2019s command seemed to deteriorate after the first two innings and there was a notable downtick in his velocity. His fastball topped out at less than 94 mph, while it averaged 96 mph last year.<\/p>\n

As Wheeler looks to pick up where he left off last season following his surgery, he\u2019ll want his fastball back at full strength. But when asked about concerns that the pitcher\u2019s stuff might never come all the way back, the Phillies\u2019 president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski downplayed the latest results.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe expect it to keep building up,\u201d Dombrowski said, according to The Athletic\u2019s Matt Gelb<\/a>. \u201cAnd you never know until you see anybody regain the total stuff, but everybody tells me, \u2018Don\u2019t be worried about it.\u2019 It\u2019s just going to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 Dave Dombrowski Sends 2-Word Zack Wheeler Message After Injury Rehab Turns Heads<\/p>\n

But with Wheeler now 35 and coming off of a significant surgery, it\u2019s also possible that he will have to adjust to a slower fastball moving forward. Though Dombrowski downplayed that possibility, he offered a three-word response when asked if Wheeler could still be effective even if the speed never comes fully back.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor sure,\u201d Dombrowski said, according to Gelb. \u201cNo question about it. With all his pitches and the effectiveness of his breaking stuff, for sure. It just takes it to another level when it\u2019s got that (added velocity). But he can be a very effective major-league pitcher at 95 mph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presumably, Dombrowski would still have confidence in Wheeler if his fastball sticks around the 93 mph range that it was mired in during his latest rehab start. But as he continues to work his way back to the major-league rotation, Wheeler will be looking to get his full power back.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on Forbes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Phillies lost the finale of their series with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, but they were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[8289,5,52,554,4,144,25,4216,40,378,1567,69,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-665636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-colorado-rockies","11":"tag-dave-dombrowski","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","15":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","16":"tag-phillies","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-texas-rangers","20":"tag-zack-wheeler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116355290134612636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}