Zack Wheeler was supposed to start against the Miami Marlins yesterday, but with the game postponed due to inclement weather, the Mets decided to have the right-hander start in a minor league game today.
Wheeler, 28, tossed a Spring high seven innings in which he allowed no runs and struck out six batters. He is set to make one more start this spring on March 25 against the Baltimore Orioles before his first regular-season start, which is expected to be on March 31 against the Washington Nationals with Patrick Corbin as his likely opponent.
So far this Spring, Wheeler has picked up right where he left off in 2018 as he has a 2.25 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, and eight strikeouts in 12 innings (four starts) in Grapefruit League games.
The Georgia native spoke to the press after the game, as detailed by Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com. Wheeler said that he definitely feels more comfortable this Spring, knowing for certain that he will be on the Opening Day roster, which he did not make last season.
“Last year, I just didn’t know at this point. So to know, and to be able to feel healthy and go out there and get outs, get past the first inning in Spring Training starts, it’s nice.”
Wheeler went on to say that he already has the Nationals on his mind and has started mapping out his game plan against them.
“I’ve already started thinking about them. You need to prepare. We already know a lot of those guys. It’s not a huge deal, but you need to mentally prepare yourself and get ready for that first start.”
With a second-half that saw him register the best ERA in baseball of 1.68, Wheeler has every reason to be confident entering the season. This is the final year of club control as he will make $5.98 million this season before hitting free agency.
