A few years ago, Zack Wheeler fell behind the shadow of the Met’s pitchers in front of him. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and, yes, Matt Harvey all flashed ace potential. All things considered, Wheeler was a number 3 pitcher in a starting rotation that could flash number 2 potential.
As a pitcher with a 98 MPH fastball and a solid slider, the Phillies saw more than that. During the 2019 offseason, they paid him for that said potential. The contract, now in year 2, gave $118 million to Wheeler over 5 years: an average of $23.