Wheeler unveils new pitch: ‘Could put me over the top, hopefully get a Cy Young'

CLEARWATER, Fla. — New baby, new contract, new pitch?

A week after he and his wife Dominique welcomed their third child and a day after he officially signed his $126 million extension, Zack Wheeler pitched two innings in his first start of the spring.

He threw 30 pitches and struck out four, allowing a run on two hits. His fastball ranged from 92.7 mph to 95.2, not bad for his first two innings of camp.

Most notably, Wheeler threw two splitters. One resulted in a swinging strike. The other went to the backstop. He's been working on the pitch throughout camp and will continue to incorporate it in his Grapefruit League starts the rest of the month.

"Felt good," he said. "One good, one bad. The good one was really good. I got a swing-and-miss like I wanted and the shape looked great. It's just getting it consistent and throwing it a lot more.

"Earlier in spring, I was trying to slow my arm down to throw it. I was facing (Kyle) Schwarber and those guys and they kinda pointed it out to me, so I was trying to throw it a little bit harder today. In the bullpen, it was a little better. Good to get feedback from those guys.

"This is spring training, this is where you work on stuff. You don't worry about results at all. Try to get that pitch right for the season. Might not translate over to the season. Even certain counts I may throw it right-on-right or even on a 3-2 pitch in spring to see if I can get that chase."

Wheeler already has an effective four-pitch mix with a four-seam fastball, sinker, sweeper and curveball. The splitter would give him an additional weapon against left-handed hitters. They hit .261/.310/.412 off him last season compared to .194/.235/.313 for righties.

With a better way to combat lefties, Wheeler thinks he might be able to reach an even higher level.

"I think this could put me over the top and hopefully get a Cy Young," he said. "That's what I want to do, and if I can take care of lefties the way I take care of righties, hopefully that'll take care of itself. It just opens up the book a little more to a lefty. They did a lot better off me last year than righties did. Me and (pitching coach Caleb Cotham) had a lot of discussions this offseason about it.

"I just need to get it consistent, be able to throw it for strikes, get that chase, get the velo difference that I need."

The Cy Young award has eluded Wheeler to this point. He nearly won it in 2021 and received as many first-place votes as winner Corbin Burnes, but Burnes received 72 percent of the voting share to Wheeler's 67 percent. It's still a controversial result because Wheeler threw 47⅓ more innings than Burnes, about eight more starts.

Unlike most starting pitchers these days, Wheeler consistently takes him team deep into games and that's another reason why having another pitch could help. It would make him less predictable and it would potentially keep hitters who have seen his other offerings earlier in the game off balance.

"I enjoy it, it keeps it fun, it keeps the hitters guessing," he said. "If you keep the same bag of tools all the time, they're going to know what you throw in certain counts a lot or what you start guys out with, what you finish them with. You just start mixing stuff up as you go to try to change it up, stay fresh and new instead of being in the big leagues for a while and keeping the same repertoire."

Just don't ask him to throw a changeup. That's apparently one thing Zack Wheeler can't do.

"I don't think my arm action is meant for a changeup, honestly," he said. "And I've never been able to throw one so it kinda makes sense. I think I'm a splitter guy and that's what I'm gonna try to nail down."

Star in the making?

The run Wheeler allowed Tuesday was scored by Baltimore's Jackson Holliday, the first overall pick in 2022 and son of Matt. Holliday doubled off Wheeler to lead off the game.

"Hung that slider to Holliday, but he's going to be good and that's what you're supposed to do with a hanging slider," Wheeler said. "J.T. (Realmuto) called I think every pitch but a splitter to him. Every time it was something new. I was like, OK, this is what we're gonna do first time up there, here we go. Him being that young, he's obviously got the power to go with it. He's going to be a good player."

The 20-year-old Holliday doubled, tripled, stole a base and made an impressive play at shortstop.

Lineup changes

Nick Castellanos and Kody Clemens were in the initial lineup that came out Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. but were scratched 90 minutes later with the illness that has hit about half of the Phillies' clubhouse. It resulted in Cristopher Sanchez and Scott Kingery being scratched Sunday and Mick Abel the day before.

Rare day off

Wednesday is one of two off-days the Phillies have before coming north for the regular season. The other one is March 12. The Phils play the Rays Thursday in Port Charlotte, then host the Astros and Blue Jays Friday (NBCSP+) and Saturday (NBCSP).

Aaron Nola will make his third start of the spring against Tampa Bay on Thursday. He is in line for four innings or around 60 pitches.