That’s where Zack Wheeler lives right now, not on a big-league mound, not in a five-inning duel, not chasing another Cy Young-caliber season, but in the slow, meticulous, painstaking world of rehabilitation. Wheeler, the Phillies’ ace who led the National League in strikeouts in 2025 and ranked among the top pitchers in ERA and innings before the injury, saw his season end abruptly after doctors diagnosed venous thoracic outlet syndrome following an August blood clot near his right shoulder. He underwent thoracic outlet decompression surgery in late September, officially closing the book on his 2025 campaign and opening a recovery process the Phillies have publicly described as a six-to-eight month undertaking.
In baseball terms, six to eight months is a wide window, the difference between still early spring when pitchers and catchers report and well into the rhythm of the regular season. But it is a window rooted in medical reality, not optimism. Recovery from thoracic outlet surgery is rarely linear, and the Phillies have been deliberate about avoiding firm timelines. That restraint isn’t evasiveness. It is intention. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has consistently emphasized that Wheeler’s return will be dictated by doctors and by how his body responds, not by the calendar.
What the Phillies have shared publicly, however, offers a cautiously encouraging snapshot. Over the past several weeks, manager Rob Thomson has confirmed that Wheeler has progressed through the early phases of his throwing program and is currently throwing from approximately 75 feet. It is a modest distance in baseball terms, hardly headline-worthy on its own, but within the context of this recovery, it represents an important checkpoint.
Seventy-five feet isn’t a mound. It isn’t a bullpen session. It doesn’t involve hitters. But it does signal that Wheeler is moving through the foundational stages that precede more demanding work. These incremental steps, extension, consistency, recovery, are what allow medical staffs to green-light bullpen sessions, live batting practice, and eventually competitive games.
Placed against the Phillies’ six-to-eight month projection, the timeline begins to take shape. Six months from Wheeler’s late-September surgery would place him in late March or early April, roughly Opening Day territory, a theoretical best-case scenario that assumes an uninterrupted progression. Eight months pushes the window into late May or early June, a more conservative and perhaps more realistic target if the Phillies want Wheeler fully built up rather than merely available.
That framework also explains why mid-season has quietly become the reference point in conversations around Wheeler’s return. The 2026 All-Star Game is scheduled for mid-July, and a return sometime in June or early July, even with limited workloads at first, would align with the longer end of the medical timeline without pushing boundaries. And for a Phillies club that expects to contend, a fully healthy Wheeler appearing mid-season would feel less like a rehab checkpoint and more like acquiring a frontline starter at the trade deadline without surrendering a prospect. Still, the Phillies have been careful not to promise even that much. Their priority remains avoiding setbacks, especially with a pitcher whose value has always been rooted in durability and consistency.
For now, Wheeler’s days are measured not in innings but in repetitions. His progress isn’t tracked by pitch counts or velocity readings, but by how his arm responds the next morning, and the morning after that. It is unglamorous work, invisible to most fans, and essential to everything that comes next.
The Phillies don’t need Wheeler in April. They don’t need him rushed. What they need is the version of Zack Wheeler who has anchored rotations, absorbed innings, and set a standard every fifth day. And if that pitcher reemerges sometime around mid-season, when the schedule tightens and games carry more weight, the wait will have been worth it.
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