{"id":619840,"date":"2026-04-21T23:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619840\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:30:18","slug":"phillies-zack-wheeler-set-to-return-saturday-vs-braves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619840\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies’ Zack Wheeler set to return Saturday vs. Braves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apr 21, 2026, 06:50 PM ET<\/p>\n

CHICAGO — Phillies<\/a> ace Zack Wheeler<\/a>, out since August because of a blood clot found near his right shoulder that led to thoracic outlet surgery, will return to the struggling Philadelphia rotation Saturday in Atlanta, manager Rob Thomson said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Wheeler completed a five-game minor league rehab stint Sunday when he threw 77 pitches for Double-A Reading. The righty also pitched for Triple-A Lehigh Valley during the assignment.<\/p>\n

Thomson said he didn’t think Wheeler, who rejoined the Phillies in Chicago, would face significant restrictions against the Braves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

“I see him as kind of a six [innings], 90 [pitches] guy,” Thomson said before the Phillies faced the Cubs<\/a>. “I think he’s basically at the end of spring training.”<\/p>\n

Wheeler’s return could provide a much-needed boost to the Phillies, who entered Tuesday on a six-game slide that dropped them to 8-14.<\/p>\n

“I think having Zack Wheeler on your 26-man roster makes you a better roster no matter what,” Thomson said. “So when he’s healthy and pitching, well he’s one of, if not the best pitcher in the National League.”<\/p>\n

A three-time All-Star, the 35-year-old Wheeler last pitched on Aug. 15, 2025, at Washington<\/a>, exiting after five innings.<\/p>\n

The right-hander finished his sixth season with the Phillies at 10-5 with a 2.71 ERA through 149\u2154 innings and 24 starts. He’s 113-75 with a 3.28 ERA for his career over 11 seasons with Philadelphia and the New York Mets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apr 21, 2026, 06:50 PM ET CHICAGO — Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, out since August because of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-619840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}