As expected, the accolades for the Philadelphia Phillies' best player this past season continue flooding in. On Monday, the MLBPA released the finalists for the 2024 Players Choice Awards and Phillies staff ace Zack Wheeler was named as a finalist for the National League Outstanding Pitcher Award.
Wheeler is nominated alongside Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale and super-rookie Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It's an impressive trio of arms that could very well be the finalists for the NL Cy Young Award as well.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler named a finalist for Players Choice Award
As the Phillies' No. 1 starter, Wheeler had another dominant season and put together an impressive Cy Young-worthy resume. He won a career-high 16 games in 32 starts, throwing 200 innings for just the second time in his 10-year career. He posted career bests with a 2.57 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP, striking out 224 batters along the way.
Wheeler ranked second in innings pitched in the NL, just 4 2/3 frames behind Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants. His ERA was second only to Sale's 2.38, as was his 5.4 fWAR. He led the NL in WHIP, finishing third overall in the majors. He also led all of Major League Baseball with a ridiculous 26 quality starts, well ahead of teammate Aaron Nola who finished second in the NL with 20.
Wheeler was also recently nominated for the NL Gold Glove Award at the starting pitcher position. He's competing against Sale for that honor as well.
The Players Choice Awards came into existence in 1992, recognizing outstanding performances of players both on and off the field.
Per the MLBPA release: "The awards are an especially distinguished honor for Players, as they are chosen through a vote of their peers. The winners of this year's awards will be announced during the FOX MLB pregame show ahead of the World Series Game 2."
Game 2 of the World Series is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 26, at 8:08 p.m. ET, so Phillies fans won't have to wait long to see if Wheeler takes home his first of what we hope to be many pieces of hardware this offseason.