NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 20, 2023

Zack Wheeler

Chase Field

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 4 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: First question for Zach.

Q. I'm wondering if the experience of pitching deep into November last year, how has that prepared you for this time to maybe -- with your body or your mind both stay fresher?

ZACK WHEELER: I don't know. I think it's just doing the same thing as we have all season. I work with Paul, our trainer a lot. He is really good at what he does. He knows my body probably better than I do.

I'm with him every day, and he just prepares me to go out there and do my best. I think as long as we stay on that routine, we should be good.

Q. Presumably you've never had a layoff quite like Cristopher is facing, but I'm just wondering from a pitcher's perspective, what's the particular challenge of overcoming that kind of a layoff and maybe dealing with rust?

ZACK WHEELER: Yeah, as much as you don't like to think that there would be rust, there probably is going to be rust. You can throw as many bullpens as you want and whatever it may be. I know he threw live the other day, so that definitely helps.

I don't know. I mean, he just has to find it once he's out there quick, if he doesn't have it, that type of thing. I think you just have to be quick with adjustments if you aren't where you want to be necessarily. But he has really come into his own this year, and we have all the trust in him, and that's why he is out there. Really looking forward to watching him.

Q. Can you give us an idea of what J.T. has meant for this staff, not only during the year, but in particular from the end of September into the postseason?

ZACK WHEELER: Yeah, he means everything. I don't shake off a lot. I don't do a lot of scouting report myself. I rely a lot on him and Caleb and our staff. But mostly from J.T. He sees the hitters. He watches a ton of videos. He writes his own notes. He's a great catcher and great game caller. He can hit too.

So I think he is one of the better athletes in the game. With him behind the plate calling the game for me, he makes it a lot easier for me for sure.

Q. In the 14 years since you've been drafted, what have been the changes that you have seen in the development and expectations of starting pitchers, and do you think starting pitchers these days are asked to do as much as they could or should?

ZACK WHEELER: That's a good question. It's something I kind of think about a good bit and kind of not at the same time. Because I can't really do anything about it.

But from my shoes, coming up as a top prospect, I was babied a little bit and that's, I guess, normal. I guess if I was drafting somebody who I thought had potential and a really good arm, I would probably do the same thing. But at the same time, I think maybe today they're holding back a little bit too much.

You know, you can have all the good bullpen arms that you want -- talking about the Big Leagues now -- but if every starter is going five innings, it's going to eventually wear down the bullpen over the long run. And the bullpen right now is where they come in big-time for us is in the playoffs. You need them fresh.

You need a starter who can go five, six, seven innings. At least a couple that can go deeper. Just throughout the season, those one or two innings more than other starters sometimes add up over the season.

But, you know, it's not my call. I don't make that investment, so I can't tell you how to do it. But just from being a starter and running through that process, I would like to see the leash unraveled a little bit more. You have to pitch in tough situations. You have to pitch fatigued. You have to pitch tired at the end of the season to be able to know how to do that at the Big League level.

I think you have to learn that in the Minor Leagues. When you are running out of juice, you still have to be able to pitch, so I think that's big.

Q. Playing off of Jeff's question a little bit, the teams in both of these series have used openers at this stage of the season. As a guy who has been a career starting pitcher, how much does that concern you? Do you think it's good for the game, bad for the game?

ZACK WHEELER: Flip a coin, right? If you have the guys to do it, I guess it's fine. It does wear on your bullpen a little bit. But like we were just talking about, it's part of the game these days. I can only control myself.

I think maybe that makes myself put a little more pride into going deeper into games so I can allow that to happen and everybody be comfortable with it later after my start. You know, sometimes I've had the opener the game before me, and so the next day I'm, like, all right, I have to go seven or eight to save the guys.

Or I know I have it the day after me, where I had to go seven or eight at least to be able to make that work, how the team plans on making it work. So I don't know. It's interesting for sure.

Q. You mentioned Paul and the influence he's had. He was with Red Sox teams that made deep runs. Topper was with the Yankees teams that made deep runs. Dave has been with teams that made deep runs. Is there anything you can point to from a training perspective or a strength and conditioning that has kept you guys as a staff as healthy as you've been all year?

ZACK WHEELER: Yes. Paul is very smart. He knows what he is doing. Like you said, he's been a part of playoff teams. He has gone deep. So has Dombrowski. So has Topper. Those guys have been a part of winning organizations and teams. And I think part of that was Paul just leading us in even before we got deep last year. You know, our offseason plan, we were going to push it back a little bit, but not too far and maybe start throwing a little earlier than you normally would just because you're wearing so much on your arm, you don't want it to seize up by taking your normal rest.

So you start a little earlier throwing, which was kind of mind-blowing to me, but it worked. That just goes back to having that trust, player and coach and staff trust. It has worked out so far.

Q. How about in-season? Has there been more focus or less on recovery or anything different about just the routine during the season that's -- because as a staff you guys have really avoided a lot of serious --

ZACK WHEELER: I thought about that last year during our run. Man, we haven't had -- knock on wood -- a lot of soft tissue injuries like hammies or whatever it may be. Even just fatigue from the pitchers, you don't see that a lot with us. I think that speaks volumes to how they handle us and how they treat us and how they just prep us.

You know, they're in there and working tirelessly, and they're all doing their job. You have to give credit to them. We're staying on the field. And that's what winning teams do, stay on the field.

Q. Stolen bases were up in the regular season more than they've been in a long time, but that number has gone back down to previous levels in October. I'm just curious, do you have any theories as to why that's the case?

ZACK WHEELER: No. Sorry. I don't know. Maybe teams are just more hesitant about giving up an out maybe. We have one of the best catchers behind the plate on our team, pop-time, throwing-wise. So maybe they're a little more hesitant to possibly get an out.

You try to, I don't know, just manufacture runs, and that's part of manufacturing runs. But at the same time, maybe just let your guys swing and try to get the guy out rather than have him steal. I don't know.

Q. Have you been more cognizant and hyper-aware about mixing up your looks and your timing in October?

ZACK WHEELER: Certain players on certain teams, yeah. There's a couple of guys on the Braves that you have to be more aware than others.

This team is really young and athletic. They can run. Even some of the guys you don't think would run take their chances sometimes.

So maybe more teams, more series than others, yeah, you have to pay more attention, but yeah.

Q. We were talking about younger players in the developmental a little earlier, but I think it extends even to pitchers such as yourself. The last complete game in the postseason was in 2017. Do you have aspirations to actually throw a playoff CG, or is that something that because of your bullpen and because of the way baseball is played these days doesn't really even enter your mind anymore?

ZACK WHEELER: As a starter, I think your goal every time is to throw a complete game with no runs scored. I think that's the goal every time.

But realistically these days, the bullpens are probably a little better than they were, so teams take advantage of that. You know, whether it's the third time through the order or this late in the year, you can afford to take out your starter, when maybe back ten years ago, you weren't able to, just because maybe you trusted your starter a little more than some of your bullpen guys.

I feel like there's more dominant guys in the bullpen maybe than there was, so teams are just taking advantage of that, I feel like.