Phillies’ Zack Wheeler confident he’s ready for first start even without pitching in a spring training game

Zack Wheeler acknowledges that it’s highly unusual for a pitcher to begin a season on time without having made a single spring-training start or faced any major-league hitters in a game situation.

He also doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

So after the Phillies ace threw a bullpen session Sunday, a final tune-up for his first turn in the rotation Tuesday night against the rival New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park, he expressed confidence that he’s ready to turn it loose after the most unconventional of springs.

“How everything has sort of progressed lately, maybe I’m not 100% where I want to be, but I think I’m good enough to go out there and do well and not really hurt the team, in a sense,” Wheeler said. “My command might not be the best right now. But I’ve pitched plenty in my career without the best command. I know I can get outs.”

In case you missed it, Wheeler, who finished a close second to Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes in the Cy Young Award race last year, felt soreness in his right shoulder after commencing his offseason throwing program in December. Because the players were locked out by Major League Baseball, he was unable to report the issue to the team.

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Wheeler took a brief break from throwing, and the soreness subsided. But unlike most Phillies pitchers, he hadn’t thrown from a mound before arriving in camp last month. And a few days after he got there, he encountered another delay because of the flu.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal except that spring training lasted only 25 days. Wheeler went through the usual progression to build arm strength — bullpen sessions, live batting practice, etc. — and would’ve started a Grapefruit League game against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 2 if not for rain. Instead, he pitched in intrasquad games that day and last Thursday.

And now, ready or not, he’s about to meet the Mets.

To hear Wheeler tell it, he’s ready.

“I’m not just coming out here brand new like everybody kind of thinks,” he said. “Yeah, I didn’t face big-league hitters. But at the same time, you’re trying to get outs down there. You’re trying to pitch guys mentally how you would in a big-league game. As long as you can mentally do that to yourself down there, lock it in like you’re really facing big-league hitters, set guys up and finish pitches and pitch like you would, it’ll translate as best it can.”

Wheeler will be on a pitch limit early in the season, similar to lefty Ranger Suárez, a late arrival to camp because of a delay in obtaining his work visa. Suárez will throw about 60 pitches Monday night against the Mets, according to manager Joe Girardi.

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But the Phillies believe short starts from Suárez and Wheeler are better than nothing, especially when two of the alternatives (Nick Nelson and lefty Cristopher Sánchez) will be available for multiple innings out of the bullpen the next two nights.

Wheeler noted that he experienced several game conditions in those instrasquad starts. He fielded his position. He refocused after giving up a home run. And while some pitchers may derive an adrenaline rush from game conditions, Wheeler isn’t exactly the type.

“You have to pay attention,” Girardi said of gauging how far Wheeler can go. “But I’m not so sure how much his heart rate would’ve gone up if it was an actual spring-training game.”

So, no, it isn’t ideal to open the season without a spring-training start. But little about the truncated spring training qualified as ideal, even for players who didn’t miss time.

“It’s weird to think about because it doesn’t happen a lot,” Wheeler said. “But me, I went down there and I pitched. I’ve already got the swings against me. I’ve kind of done all that. I feel good.”