ARLINGTON -- Zack Wheeler isn’t concerned. Neither is manager Rob Thomson.
Still, there will be a lot of eyes on Wheeler and his right shoulder in the coming days and weeks.
After having his start pushed back two days due to some shoulder soreness following his last outing, Wheeler's velocity was down across the board on Sunday -- including on a first-inning cutter that Joc Pederson smashed for a two-run homer. Wheeler's usual pinpoint control -- something that has been missing of late -- also eluded him once again.
As it turns out, that soreness actually popped up well before last week.
“Honestly, it's been a while,” Wheeler said when asked when he first felt it. “It finally just got to that point to where we wanted to go get an image of it so we could treat, specifically, what needed to be treated and not just guess.”
And the treatment worked?
“Today I felt perfectly normal,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler clearly didn’t have his best stuff in the Phillies' 4-2 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field. All of his pitches were down more than a full mile per hour. The most significant dropoff was with his sinker, which averaged just 93.0 mph -- down 2.5 mph from his usual 95.5. His splitter (2.2 mph), four-seamer (2.0 mph) sweeper (1.8 mph), cutter (1.8 mph) and curveball (1.3 mph) were also down.
"I'm not concerned,” Thomson said when asked about the velocity. “ ... He just looks like he's a little bit out of sync, that's all."
Added Wheeler: “I'm not concerned. It'll come back.”
Even if they truly aren’t concerned long term, it still affects Wheeler in the short term. Unlike rotationmate Ranger Suárez, who has routinely proven he can be effective with diminished velocity, a big part of Wheeler’s game is the ability to simply overpower hitters with his fastball.
"It's harder to pitch at that velo than, say 95, 96,” Wheeler admitted. “You don't get as many swings and misses or as many foul balls, it's a little easier to hit."
But Wheeler did what aces do: He simply found a way to get the job done. Wheeler held the Rangers scoreless after Pederson’s first-inning homer, working around three walks and three hits while striking out seven over five innings.
“That's the type of pitcher he is,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “Even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he's going to give us a chance to win the game. He's going to go out there and compete, and he's going to find a way to get it done.”
Of course, it wasn’t just Wheeler’s velocity that was missing.
Wheeler uncharacteristically left a lot of fastballs up and had a number of non-competitive misses. During this recent rough patch (by Wheeler’s standards), it’s been the lack of fastball command that has frustrated Wheeler the most.
That changes things behind the plate for Realmuto, who said calling a game for Wheeler all starts with his fastball command. When it’s “a little erratic,” as Realmuto called it on Sunday, the catcher has to pivot on the fly -- and that’s not as easy with Wheeler as other pitchers.
While most pitchers have a go-to breaking ball, Wheeler’s go-to breaking pitch changes start to start. On Sunday, for instance, that pitch was the splitter -- the pitch he had thrown the fewest of all season.
But those were the type of things Wheeler, Thomson and Realmuto were focused on postgame. Command, mechanics, approach -- nothing physical.
“Felt good, felt healthy,” Wheeler said. “Still just a little off, so just got to keep working at that.”
Wheeler doesn’t have all the answers for what’s throwing off his command right now, but he insists it has nothing to do with the shoulder.
"If you've been around baseball for a while, you know guys go through different times in the season where guys might not have their best stuff for a few starts in a row,” Wheeler said. “That's just it for me right now. It'll come back around."
The Phillies could have skipped Wheeler’s turn in the rotation had they wanted to, thanks to Thursday’s off-day before the series in Texas. They won’t have that luxury this time around, as they’re in the midst of playing 13 games in 13 days.
Aaron Nola could be back next Sunday. Maybe the Phillies skip Wheeler at that point. Maybe they go to a six-man rotation for a while.
For now, they aren’t worried.
“Not at this point,” Thomson said. “We'll see how he feels tomorrow. That'll be the tell-tale sign. We'll just have to wait and see.”