Zack Wheeler hoping to be late entrant to Cy Young race

At this time two years ago, Philadelphia Phillies righty Zack Wheeler looked to be the favorite for the NL Cy Young Award before ultimately finishing a close second to Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers.

This time around, Wheeler is hoping to make a late-season push in what’s one of the weaker Cy Young races in recent memory.

After manager Rob Thomson mentioned Wheeler as someone worthy of being in the Cy Young Award race prior to Saturday night’s game, the veteran righty responded by striking out 10 St. Louis Cardinals batters and limiting the red birds to three hits and one run over seven innings.

Asked to follow up on his pregame comments after a 12-1 win, Thomson’s reply was short and sweet.

“Yeah, that’s what they [Cy Young candidates] look like right there,” Thomson said with a smile.

For his part, Wheeler didn’t shy away from the discussion postgame.

“Yeah, I mean I wanna be in it too,” Wheeler said referring to the NL Cy Young Award race. “So, I appreciate that from him [Thomson], but you gotta pitch well and you gotta pitch yourself there. I would have liked to start that a little earlier than now, but hopefully we can make a little push.”

In terms of back-of-the-baseball-card stats, Wheeler — who has a 10-6 record with a 3.59 ERA — faces an uphill battle to usurp Zac Gallen of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves and Justin Steele of the Chicago Cubs, among others.

However, some of the newer-school statistics paint a significantly better picture of Wheeler’s season. His 3.01 FIP is second among qualified NL starters, trailing only Strider. That suggests that he’s been let down by his defense. Additionally, Wheeler leads all MLB pitchers with a 5.2 WAR, with FanGraphs saying that the next closest are Strider and Gallen at 4.7.

Whether he’s able to make a run for the NL Cy Young Award or not, Wheeler said before the All-Star Break that he knew he needed to step things up in the second half of the season. Since the Midsummer Classic, Wheeler has posted a 2.68 ERA across eight starts.

“Minus the four runs against the Nationals the other day, I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball well,” Wheeler said. “[And I] just look to continue that.”

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