Zack Wheeler will rejoin the Phillies rotation on Saturday in Atlanta against the Braves

The best news the Phillies have gotten all month has nothing to do with what’s happening on the field right now. Zack Wheeler is coming back Saturday night in Atlanta. It will be his start since August 15, 2025 and his return will officially send Taijuan Walker to the bullpen.

Zack Wheeler is officially BACK

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I cannot express enough how badly this team needs Zack Wheeler right now. The Phillies’ starting rotation has been a disaster outside of a few solid Sanchez outings and the occasional decent Painter start.

Phillies starters entered Tuesday night ranked 27th in the majors with a 5.48 ERA. Twenty-seventh. For a team that finished second in the league in starters’ ERA last season at 3.53, that number is an embarrassment.

Zack Wheeler, who has pitched to a 2.91 ERA in 157 starts since joining the Phillies in 2020, should immediately change the complexion of this rotation. He’s been the best pitcher on this staff for five years and the difference between having him at the top and having Taijuan Walker in the rotation has been painfully obvious through the first three weeks.

Wheeler had surgery to fix thoracic outlet syndrome in September and threw 20 innings across five minor league rehab starts. Rob Thomson said he’s looking for six innings and about 90 pitches from Wheeler on Saturday.

The velocity on his fastball was inconsistent during rehab, touching 94 in some outings and sitting in the low 90s in others. Thomson thinks the velocity will tick up as the weather warms, which makes sense considering two of his rehab outings were in cold weather.

Do I care if Zack Wheeler comes back throwing 91 instead of 96? Not even a little bit.

He could come out there throwing 88 and he’d still be a massive upgrade over what the Phillies have been running out there every fifth day. Zack Wheeler at 80 percent is better than Taijuan Walker at anything.

The command, the pitch mix, the competitive fire, the ability to actually give this team a chance to win a baseball game. All of it matters and all of it has been missing.

Taijuan Walker is heading back to the bullpen

Walker is expected to shift to a bullpen role when Wheeler returns. He’ll pitch in relief Wednesday night against the Cubs. The Phillies will have to make a roster move before Saturday to accommodate Wheeler on the roster.

I’ve been saying it for weeks. Get Walker off the mound. Stop letting him destroy this team’s morale every five days. The guy has a 9.16 ERA and has been directly responsible for some of the most lifeless, miserable losses of the season.

His own infielders were staring at the dirt while the Braves rounded the bases last week. That’s the kind of damage a bad starter does to a clubhouse and the Phillies let it go on way too long.

The fact that Walker is moving to the bullpen instead of being released tells you everything about the Phillies’ lack of pitching depth. They can’t cut him because they don’t have anyone better to replace him if another starter goes down.

That’s a front office problem that Dave Dombrowski is going to have to answer for at some point. But for now, getting Walker out of the rotation is the most important thing and it should have happened two starts ago.

Wheeler is back. The rotation just got significantly better overnight. Now the offense needs to figure out how to score more than two runs in a game so it actually matters.

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