The Philadelphia Phillies should be happy with Zack Wheeler's first start of the 2026 season.
For the first time in 2026 and since his season was cut short last August, Zack Wheeler was back on the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies in his season debut against the Atlanta Braves.
Here are three observations from the ace’s return to the mound.
Wheeler’s Velocity Looked Good
Perhaps the biggest question in Wheeler’s return was what his fastball velocity would look like after major shoulder surgery and the fact that the veteran is now 35 years old. Also, how hard Wheeler was throwing varied throughout his rehab outings.
The good news is that Wheeler’s fastball velo overall looked good in his first start of 2026. He threw the heater 36 times, and it topped out at 96.5 mph with an average velocity of 94.7 mph. For reference, that’s pretty close to Wheeler’s average fastball velocity before the injury in 2025, which was 95.9.
Even if Wheeler got shelled and gave up a handful of runs, but the velocity looked this good, that would’ve been a win for him and the Phillies. Thankfully, he had a productive outing and was throwing the ball hard.
Apr 25, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) walks off the field against the Atlanta Braves in the third inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn ImagesStrikeouts and Swing and Miss
Along with the encouraging velocity, Wheeler picked up right where he left off in terms of forcing batters to swing out of their shoes and rack up punchouts along with that.
In his 5.0 innings of work, Wheeler finished with six total strikeouts along with a whiff-rate of 36 percent. Of the 42 swings that the right-hander generated, 15 of them were whiffs. It wasn’t just one pitch that had Braves hitters on skates. Wheeler had seven whiffs on his fastball, two on his sweeper, three on his curveball, and three on his splitter.
It was really nice to see Wheeler’s full arsenal working for him in just his first start of 2026.
Wheeler’s Shaky Command
The velocity looked good, and Wheeler was able to generate some swing and miss, but his command was definitely a little shaky at times.
Wheeler walked three batters and had 66 percent of his pitches land for strikes. His biggest struggle was landing first-pitch strikes at times, which caused Wheeler to get behind in some counts.
All things considered, the command didn’t cost him the outings, but it is worth monitoring.
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