Zack’s New Wheels: A Low-Riding Fastball

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images This is Zack’s naked contempt for opposing hitters.When Zack Wheeler signed with the Phillies, he mentioned that the Phillies’ analytics department factored into his decision. He had seen what Gerrit Cole learned in Houston and wanted a club to do that for him. Well, there’s only one Gerrit Cole. No one expected Wheeler to set strikeout records. But Wheeler did change. In fact, he shifted in the opposite direction from Cole. Instead of becoming more like Nolan Ryan, he became more like Jamie Moyer. In an age of ever increasing true outcomes, switching bodies with Jamie Moyer seems like a way to demolish a career, although it might help one empathize across generational divisions and make a wonderful movie direct to Disney+. Yet Wheeler thrived on his new found Moyerism. How did he pull it off? What turned him into the hardest throwing contact pitcher this side of the Pacific Ocean?

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