The Philadelphia Phillies’ biggest strength throughout the 2025 season has been the starting pitching. The rotation features two legitimate NL Cy Young candidates and others who are capable of reaching that level.
The elite starting pitching was on full display yet again in Sunday night’s 2-0 shutout win over the Detroit Tigers. Cristopher Sánchez tossed eight scoreless innings on just 84 pitches before being replaced by Jhoan Duran for the ninth inning.
Despite not being named to the All-Star Game this year, Sánchez has been one of the top pitchers in baseball. The southpaw may have even jumped his teammate Zack Wheeler in the 2025 NL Cy Young odds after his brilliant performance on Sunday.
How worried should Phillies fans be about Zack Wheeler?
Wheeler was the 2024 NL Cy Young runner-up and has widely been in the top-two conversation for this year’s award. The right-hander is 9-5 with a 2.64 ERA through 22 starts and has a major league-leading 182 strikeouts entering Monday.
Despite his overall impressive season, Wheeler has found himself in some trouble over his last four starts. Since his complete game one-hitter, which came off a solo home run on July 6, the Phillies’ ace is 0-2 and has allowed 13 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings.
Not only is Wheeler allowing more runs than usual, but his command has been an issue across his last four outings. The 35-year-old has left far too many pitches out over the plate, which has led to six home runs, including three given up during Saturday’s loss to the Tigers.
Zack Wheeler has allowed 3 HRs today for the 1st time in more than a year.
— Paul Casella (@Paul_CasellaMLB) August 2, 2025
Last 3-homer outing was July 29, 2024.
"Like I said last time, I just need to be better,” Wheeler said about his recent command issues following Saturday’s loss to Tarik Skubal and the Tigers, per MLB.com’s Paul Casella. “I need to get my command back and, for whatever reason, I just haven't had it. You go through those times throughout the season."
Wheeler hasn’t only had command issues over this stretch, but his velocity has also dipped from earlier in the season. He can usually reach the upper 90s with his fastball, but he’s struggled to throw 97-plus mph over his last few starts.
Zack Wheeler threw just 4 pitches of 97+ mph today after throwing only 2 in his last start and 7 the one before that. He averaged 23 over his previous 5.
— Paul Casella (@Paul_CasellaMLB) August 2, 2025
Here's the percentage of Wheeler's 4-seamers to hit 97+ mph...
First 6 starts: 8%
Next 13 starts: 48%
Last 3 starts: 12%
Nonetheless, Wheeler is elite and still one of the top pitchers in baseball. Entering Monday, he has 20 more strikeouts than any NL pitcher, is tied for the fourth-most wins, has the fifth-lowest ERA, is tied for the lowest WHIP (0.92) and has the third-lowest batting average against (.198).
Wheeler has the talent and experience to break out of this mini-slump. His next start is scheduled for Friday’s series opener on the road against the Texas Rangers.