Phillies All-Star SP Zack Wheeler to start Thursday vs. Dodgers

Wheeler and fellow starting pitcher Zach Eflin were both placed on the COVID-related injured list on Sunday morning. Wheeler is 1-3 with a 4.10 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, nine walks and 25 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings across five starts thus far, while Eflin has gone 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and five walks against 18 strikeouts in 24 innings over five starts.

Selected sixth overall by the San Francisco Giants during the 2009 MLB June Amateur Draft, Wheeler was traded to the New York Mets in July 2011 for nine-time All-Star Carlos Beltran and cash before he made his big league debut with New York in 2013. Across five seasons in Queens, the 31-year-old went 44-38 with a 3.77 ERA and 1.29 WHIP, while collecting 726 strikeouts in 749 1/3 innings across 126 games (all starts).

Wheeler signed with the Phillies in December 2019 and went 4-2 with a 2.92 ERA and 1.16 WHIP during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. The Smyrna, Ga. native had his best season in 2021, finishing with career-best marks in wins (14), ERA (2.78), WHIP (1.00), strikeouts (247) and a host of other categories, while making his first All-Star team and ending the year second in the NL Cy Young voting.