Phillies' Zack Wheeler to undergo season-ending surgery

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler’s season is over.

Wheeler was diagnosed with venous thoracic outlet syndrome and will undergo surgery in the coming weeks, the Phillies announced Saturday. The general timeline for recovery for thoracic outlet decompression surgery is 6-8 months.

Wheeler was first diagnosed with a bloodclot in his upper right arm after reporting heaviness near his shoulder. He underwent a successful thrombolysis procedure to remove the clot Monday, and saw multiple specialists afterwards to gather opinions. The unanimous recommendation was the surgery.

“We figure that he’ll come back in the six to eight month time period and come back and be the Zack Wheeler of old,” said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “That’s what we’ve been told. And unless something unanticipated happens, he’ll be able to come back and pitch like he has before this.”

Phillies head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit said that pitchers can typically begin throwing again eight weeks after undergoing the procedure, although the timeline can vary.

“With Zack, it was an acute onset, and so he doesn’t have that long, protracted time period where he’s been battling things,” Buchheit said. “The surgeons say that he’s going to have a really good prognosis with this.”

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