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Owen Caissie Learned Not to ABS Challenge Zack Wheeler’s Cutter
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Zack Wheeler put on a show from the bump on Monday night as the Phillies handily beat the Marlins 7-0. This clip of Owen Caissie challenging Wheeler’s called strike three on a nasty cutter tells pretty much the whole story:
This clip rules. Caissie looked utterly shocked to see that Wheeler’s cutter – which did feel like it might’ve rode slightly high in real time – turned out to be comfortably, fully in the top third of the zone. No corner painting on this one; the whole-ass ball was in there. I think Caissie deserves some credit here, though – I like how honest his reaction was. He doesn’t even need to be mic’d up. His face clearly tells us everything he’s thinking: “Wow, I couldn’t have been more wrong about Wheeler’s cutter. That wasn’t even close. I guess he’s really good. I guess I shouldn’t ABS challenge his stuff anymore. Maybe I shouldn’t ABS challenge anyone’s stuff anymore. Baseball is too hard. The ball comes at me too fast. It’s basically impossible to see. Too small, too. The ball is, I’m saying. Should be bigger. Volleyball-sized. Would be nice. I’m going to go sit down on the bench now.”
Wheeler was dominant on Monday, going six innings with two hits, no runs, three walks, and nine Ks. Isn’t it weird that he had that blood clot pretty recently? And had a rib removed? Remember that? That was only nine months ago, and since recovering from the surgery, he’s looked as sharp as ever. His numbers through ten starts look like any other dominant Wheeler season. He doesn’t look like One Less Rib Wheeler. He looks like Normal Amount Of Ribs Wheeler:
Zack Wheeler Pitching Stats
| GS | W | L | IP | ERA | WHIP | K | BB | H | HR | OppAVG | K/9 | BB/9 | K/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 6 | 1 | 62.2 | 2.01 | 0.85 | 62 | 15 | 38 | 7 | .174 | 8.90 | 2.15 | 4.13 |
But as great as he’s been, Wheeler says he still doesn’t think he’s back to pitching his best:
QUESTION: “You look at your (positive) results… Yet you say you’re not at your best. You gotta be happy with that, or, just a pitch here and there?
WHEELER: “Yeah, I mean that four-seam was not as fun as I want it to be command-wise. But I’m getting through it, and I’ll take it, that’s for sure, especially up here in the big leagues. It’s hard, and you kinda take it as it comes, so. You learn from it. Try to pick it apart but not too much to where you mess yourself up.”
The idea of Wheeler pitching even better than he is right now is a wonderful thought, but it’s a tough one to wrap my head around. How much better could he get? How is he doing this post-rib-removal? Maybe that old rib was holding him back? Maybe he should pop out a few more ribs? Maybe every one of us should take out a couple ribs to get slightly better at our jobs? Some good stuff to think about here.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com