As the Philadelphia Phillies report to camp this week, Zack Wheeler is moving on from the scariest stretch of his career with one bizarre reminder sitting at home: the rib doctors removed during his thoracic outlet surgery is in a closet at his house.
Zack Wheeler Injury News: Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher Keeps Removed Rib In Closet
Earlier this week, Rob Thomson acknowledged what the organization had been expecting for months, saying he doesn’t anticipate Wheeler being ready for Opening Day, even if the team believes he won’t be far behind. Now the ace is filling in more of the story about the procedure that ended his 2025 season and reshaped the start of 2026.
Wheeler needed thoracic outlet decompression surgery after a blood clot in his right shoulder led doctors to diagnose venous thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition that can compress major blood vessels near the collarbone. The operation typically involves removing part of a rib to relieve that pressure, which is exactly what surgeons did in Wheeler’s case.
Instead of letting the rib disappear into a medical waste bag, Wheeler kept it, joking that it’s now stashed away in a closet as a souvenir of everything he’s gone through to keep pitching. It’s the kind of detail that underscores both how serious the situation became and how comfortable he seems talking about it now, months removed from the initial diagnosis.
(Via @TimKellySports)
Even during that process, Wheeler said he never really entertained the idea that he was done pitching. He told Tim Kelly that, like most athletes, he went into surgery believing he’d come back as the same performer, trying to stay optimistic about returning to his old form rather than worrying about whether he’d ever take the ball again.
For the Phillies, that mindset matters as much as the medical updates. The club has already accepted that it has to navigate at least the first part of 2026 without its No. 1 starter, but everything from Wheeler’s rib-in-the-closet story to his insistence that he’d be back eventually reinforces the same point: this is a long-haul play, not a farewell tour.
Zack Wheeler Stats: A True MLB Ace When Healthy
Wheeler isn’t just another injured arm; he’s been one of the most valuable pitchers in baseball for half a decade, and the backbone of everything the Phillies have tried to do at the top of their rotation. Over 11 seasons, he’s run a 3.28 ERA with nearly a strikeout per inning and a better than 3-to‑1 strikeout‑to‑walk ratio, numbers that translate to roughly a 4.7‑WAR pitcher over a full 162‑game season.
Since signing with Philadelphia, he’s taken that to another level, posting a 2.91 ERA and a 0.016 WHIP over six years with the Phillies while striking out 10.1 batters per nine and walking just 2.0, good for 30.4 WAR in that span alone. He’s cleared 4.0 WAR in each of his last five healthy seasons, including monster years in 2021 (7.5 WAR), 2024 (6.1 WAR), and a 5.0‑WAR season cut short by the thoracic outlet issue in 2025, with multiple top‑two Cy Young finishes and down‑ballot MVP votes to show for it.
Phillies Star Keeps Removed Rib Bone in His Closet?!