DETROIT — Three days after Zack Wheeler struck out 14 hitters and called his All-Star snub “BS,” MLB offered him a replacement spot on the National League All-Star roster.
He declined.
“They disrespected me, so I’m not going to participate,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler, 36, holds a 2.28 ERA through 14 starts (87 innings) this season. He will pitch the Sunday before the All-Star Game — a group of starters the league has tried to stay away from when selecting replacements. But Wheeler said Tuesday he would be willing to pitch in the game even with his start against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
MLB made two pitching replacements in the National League on Saturday, naming Foster Griffin and Justin Wrobleski to the roster in place of Braxton Ashcraft and Chase Burns.
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Wheeler has fewer outings than some starting pitchers because of his recovery from thoracic outlet decompression surgery in September, which required rehabbing and a slower start to the spring. Wheeler was diagnosed last August after suffering a season-ending blood clot, which was dissolved a few weeks before the surgery that removed Wheeler’s right rib. His season debut in April coincided with the Phillies’ rise, the team beginning to turn around under interim manager Don Mattingly and excel in Wheeler’s starts.
Wheeler has repeatedly said he wanted to come back as the same pitcher. The rehab and recovery process, he said, did not need to be factored into whether he should’ve been an All-Star.
“I don’t need a pity party,” Wheeler said. “I don’t need somebody saying, ‘He’s had major surgery. Look at him now.’ I don’t need that. It was my plan to come back as who I was or even better.”
This marks the second year in a row the Phillies clubhouse has been displeased about a starting pitcher not being selected for the All-Star Game. Cristopher Sánchez was not chosen last season — partly because he pitched on the Sunday before the game, just as Wheeler will.
“He’s an All-Star in my heart,” Sanchez said via team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “The same thing happened to me last year. Same situation. I think they’ve got to fix that.”
Catcher J.T. Realmuto, who on Tuesday said Wheeler has not “lost a step” since returning, said he is not a fan of Sunday’s starting pitchers being denied or delayed All-Star opportunities. He floated choosing the best pitchers for the roster and then “if they can’t pitch, name them an All-Star and move on to the next guy.”
Wheeler would like to see some version of that as well, calling the current rule “BS” after his start on Tuesday.
“There’s been plenty of ways to go about it,” Wheeler said. “I feel if somebody deserves it, then they deserve it. Guys do take a lot of pride in having that All-Star nod next to your name during your career and after your career. People who vote on stuff after your career might look at that, too.”
Wheeler at least has the support of his teammates and coaches. Catcher Garrett Stubbs had T-shirts made that read “that’s a reminder for whoever needs to be reminded” — a quote taken from Wheeler’s postgame interview Tuesday after he allowed one run in seven innings against the Cincinnati Reds. Teammates and the coaching staff wore them around Comerica Field before games on Friday and Saturday.
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“Everybody in this clubhouse was surprised,” Realmuto said. “To see what he’s done in his career and then to have the type of surgery he had and still be the same dominant guy as soon as he returned and had a great first half … I thought it was definitely a mistake.”
Said pitching coach Caleb Cotham: “It’s tough to make everyone happy. Just for myself, I think he’s pitched well enough, performed well enough to be an All-Star.”
Wheeler said he doesn’t want to sound like he is “hating on the whole thing,” calling participating in the All-Star Game a privilege. But he has taken issue with the selection process, saying he did not want to be the league’s fifth choice. Had he been approached earlier in the week, his answer may have been different.
He mentioned he has declined All-Star nods in the past, though he has typically done so when struggling with something. This time, Wheeler said, it is because of “pure disrespect.”
“I just don’t want to be disrespected as a person,” Wheeler said, “or at my job. I take it very seriously. It’s just me as a person, too. I felt like I said before — maybe I didn’t earn it from the get-go, but maybe second choice. Once I feel like they kind of messed that up, I’m out.”
Now, Wheeler will head to the beach with his family for the All-Star break instead of appearing before an electric crowd at Citizens Bank Park — the same fans who cheered him as he returned to the field last October in the NLDS, staring down a lengthy rehab process — one he was determined to come out of all the better.
