Phillies Ace Zack Wheeler Reveals the Reasons He Misses Being Able To Hit

Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler has been on top of his game on the mound this season.

With two National League Cy Young Award runner-up campaigns under his belt already, he is looking to break through and win the prestigious honor for the first time in his career in 2025.

He is certainly performing well enough to be in the mix, putting together another stellar campaign and showing no signs of slowing down despite being 35 years old.

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Through 19 starts and 122 innings, Wheeler has a strong 2.36 ERA to go along with 154 strikeouts, which is tops in the NL entering play on July 21.

His 0.861 WHIP is also the best in the NL, while his 5.8 H/9 is the best mark in the MLB.

He made the NL All-Star Team for the third time in his career, already compiling a bWAR of 4.8. Only two seasons in his career has he recorded a higher bWAR for an entire campaign: 2021 and 2024, the other two times he was an All-Star and finished as the Cy Young runner-up.

While his success is certainly great, there is one thing that is missing for Wheeler this year and has been the previous three campaigns: the ability to hit.

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When the MLB instituted rules making the designated hitter universal, introducing it to the NL in 2022 after it had been in the American League, it meant pitchers were no longer taking at-bats regularly.

It is something that he certainly misses.

“He referred to hitting as the 'fun part of baseball,'” wrote Theo DeRosa of MLB.com.

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Wheeler grew up as a two-way player, manning positions around the field and hitting while growing up.

That carried over into the MLB, where he was a respectable hitter at the plate, recording 44 hits and hitting a home run. He recorded a positive bWAR as a hitter with a 0.7 across 323 plate appearances.

A capable performer compared to some of his peers, there was one major reason Wheeler enjoyed being able to hit: breaking up a pitching routine that could be monotonous at times.

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“For starters like Wheeler, taking batting practice and hitting in games was the perfect way to break up the monotony of a pitching routine. Wheeler said it was a way to “get some laughs” and keep things light -- and it was something his teammates always enjoyed,” DeRosa added.

The MLB regular season is a marathon. Whatever players can do to help get through it in one piece, even at the expense of themselves when it comes to Wheeler’s performance at the plate, seems to have helped morale.

“Yeah, it was hilarious,” former Phillies infielder Nick Maton said. “Wheeler and all them just taking G hacks up there. They actually had good swings.”

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