Philadelphia Phillies Ace Struggles in Concerning Second Spring Training Start

There's likely no cause for long-term concern, but the second outing for Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler went rather poorly.

Mar 4, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) walks off the field against the New York Yankees in the first inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are gearing up in spring training for the 2025 season and another run at an elusive World Series championship.

The strength of their dominant starting rotation is likely to be the driving force behind their success.

All five of their projected starters were excellent in their first outings of spring training, They each went two full innings and did not allow a run, but things took a sour turn for staff ace Zack Wheeler in his second appearance on Wednesday.

Facing a New York Yankees lineup that consisted of roughly half regulars and half prospects, Wheeler got rocked, allowing eight hits and five earned runs over two innings while striking out a pair.

Wheeler's first inning actually went very well against Yankee big leaguers. He retired Austin Wells, Paul Goldschmidt and Jasson Dominguez, wringing up the latter.

But things took a turn in the second.

The Georgia native retired J.C. Escarra and Oswaldo Cabrera to start the frame, but New York got a rally going when Pablo Reyes, Jorbit Vivas and George Lombard Jr. hit consecutive singles. Lombard's RBI knock came off the bat at 106.4 mph, an impressive feat for the 19-year-old.

Spencer Jones then launched an RBI double to right, and Wheeler had some bad luck on an RBI single by Wells that didn't leave the infield to make it 3-0 before he struck Goldschmidt out to end the inning.

Spencer Jones gets in on the action 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OfgzXoJV9H

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 4, 2025

Aiming to build up his pitch count as Opening Day draws nearer, Wheeler came out for the third, but gave up three more consecutive hits to Dominguez, Escarra and Cabrera which made it 4-1 and chased him from the contest.

Overall, it's much more reasonable to chalk this up as a weirdly bad day than flag it as an actual cause for major concern.

Wheeler's typical velocity was there, and he got swings and misses on his two hardest fastballs of the day (96.5 and 96.4, both to Dominguez). He also spun his curve at a maximum of 2,883 rpms and got a whiff on that particular pitch to Wells, too.

Still, it's not great to see Wheeler giving up tattooed hits to minor leaguers, and it would be most reassuring for the Phillies and their fans if he can come out in his next turn and returned to his usual dominant form.

Wheeler will get the ball on Opening Day for the second consecutive season when Philadelphia takes on the Washington Nationals.

In his prior first appearance last year, Wheeler held the Atlanta Braves scoreless for six innings.