Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler not a fan of early-season scheduling

When Zack Wheeler takes the mound Friday night in Atlanta for his second start of the season, many of the hitters he faced in his first start six days earlier will be staring back at him.

To the Phillies’ co-ace, that’s less than ideal.

“I don’t know who made the schedule, but it wasn’t very smart, I don’t think,” Wheeler said recently when asked about facing the Atlanta Braves in consecutive starts to open the season. “When you schedule teams back-to-back like they have the past couple years, nobody likes it. Because you’re facing the same team over and over and over, then you don’t face them for a month or two, whatever it may be.”

To be fair, Major League Baseball didn’t have much choice last year. With teams playing a regionalized, largely intra-divisional schedule to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, there wasn’t much chance for scheduling variability. Wheeler faced the same team in back-to-back starts twice — the Braves on Aug. 22/28 and the New York Mets on Sept. 7/16 — and posted a 2.77 ERA in the second of the two starts.

Also, the Phillies’ early-season schedule, with 13 games against only the Braves and Mets, is uncommon. It marks the first time a team has faced two opponents over the first 13 games of a season since the Mets did so in 1999 against the Florida Marlins and Montreal Expos.

But in 2019, the last full major league season and Wheeler’s final year with the Mets, he had three instances of back-to-back starts against one opponent. He had a 4.82 ERA in the second go-around against those teams, although he actually pitched better in two of the three rematches.

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Wheeler, who grew up in suburban Atlanta, couldn’t have been much better against the Braves on Saturday. He allowed one hit, struck out 10, and faced one batter more than the minimum in seven scoreless innings of a 4-0 victory at Citizens Bank Park. For good measure, he picked up two hits and drove in two runs.

“That was probably about as good as I’ve seen him,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the game. “I think I looked up at one point and he had 46 strikes and 16 balls, or something like that. And that stuff was live. I mean, that was rough.”

The Braves figure to alter their approach against Wheeler, who in turn may have to switch up his attack plan. Of his 90 pitches last Saturday, he threw 38 four-seam fastballs, 21 sinkers, and 20 sliders. It will be worth watching if he features more than seven changeups and four curveballs this time.

Braves starter Charlie Morton will also be in the same boat as Wheeler, having faced the Phillies last Saturday.

“It’s not the best scheduling there is, but you’ve got to deal with it,” Wheeler said. “Coming right out the gate, our division’s tough all the way through, but facing the top two teams [Braves and Mets] probably, they’re stacked. You’ve got to be ready to go.”

With a solo home run and two doubles in his first three at-bats Wednesday against Mets starter David Peterson, first baseman Rhys Hoskins became the fourth Phillies player to collect seven extra-base hits through the first six games of a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The others: Ryan Howard in 2010, John Kruk in 1993, and Del Ennis in 1950.

It would be a good start under any conditions, but considering Hoskins had elbow surgery in October, it’s particularly encouraging.

Before his third-inning single against Peterson, lefty-hitting Didi Gregorius had been 0-for-5 with five strikeouts against left-handed pitchers. ... Entering play Wednesday, Jean Segura was batting .393 with a 1.136 OPS in 115 plate appearances against the Mets since the beginning of the 2019 season. Only Washington’s Juan Soto (1.162 OPS) has been a bigger Mets killer. ... The Phillies are off Thursday. After the Wheeler-Morton matchup Friday night, Zach Eflin will face Braves right-hander Ian Anderson on Saturday night. Matt Moore will square off against fellow lefty Drew Smyly on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.