Phillies Ace On a Roll Racking Up Strikeouts Like He Never Has Before

The Philadelphia Phillies' pitching staff is no stranger to striking batters out this year. Entering play Wednesday, the rotation has tallied 225 strikeouts through their first 35 games, the most in MLB.

A big part of that total has come from their ace, Zack Wheeler. Wheeler, 34, has been striking batters out at the Major League level for over a decade now, with 1,691 under his belt throughout his career in 1,629 2/3 innings. That gives the righty a strong 9.3 K/9, but it is nowhere close to the pace he is on this year.

To this point in 2025, Wheeler has punched out 66 batters in a Major League-leading 51 innings. They have come in only eight starts so far, and he carried a K/9 of 11.6, the highest mark of his career. Should he continue his current pace over 32 starts, he is on pace to finish with a career-high 264 strikeouts.

The Secret to Zack Wheeler's Success

Wheeler has improved his K/9 year-over-year every year since 2022. It started at 9.6 in 2022, 9.9 in 2023, 10.1 in 2024, and 11.6 to this point in 2025. After the first part of his career was mired by injuries, his stint with the Phillies has made him one of the preeminent starting pitchers in MLB today.

But what has been the secret to the ace's success this year?

When you dive into his Baseball Savant page, his two best offerings have been his four-seam fastball and his splitter. Those two pitches have tallied Wheeler six runs of value and five runs of value, respectively, while the next closest pitch, his cutter, has accrued only one run of value to this point.

The craziest development is that his sinker, his best pitch last year with 17 run value, has been his worst offering in 2025, with -6 run value. He has lost over an inch of drop in the offering, and it has seen Wheeler cut back on its usage.

The rate at which he uses his pitches has changed this year, as well. The veteran still leans heavily on the four-seam, throwing it 42% of the time, but all of his other offerings are used at least 10% of the time, keeping opposing batters on their toes.

Wheeler's transformation from a perennially injured pitcher to one of the best in the sport has been a fantastic development for Philadelphia. Should he keep striking hitters out at such a high pace in 2025, he could be bringing home his first piece of hardware come the season's end.