Mets Zack Wheeler: What to make of his recent success?

Zack Wheeler has shown flashes of his raw talent over his first two starts for the Mets in 2018. But, can fantasy owners chase him again off the waiver wire?

Zack Wheeler was once lauded as a key part of the Mets future when he was dealt to New York in 2011.  His first 49 starts with the team were great as he posted a 3.48 ERA and 271 K over that span. However, he needed TJ surgery in 2015,  missed all of 2016, and struggled mightily in 2017. Now healthy and back with the club though, what can fantasy make out of his first two quality starts?

Everyone knows the Mets’ have a ton of talented arms, yet they have never been able to stay together as a rotation for one season. Zack Wheeler is one of those culprits as  can not avoid the injury bug to save his life.

However, Wheeler is now three years removed from his TJ surgery, and entered the offseason relatively healthy for once. He was shut down last season because of arm woes, making his last start at the end of July.

This offseason Wheeler worked to strengthen his core, but more importantly, tweaked his delivery in an effort to find consistency. He also wanted to take more torque off his elbow as well. So far, Wheeler has not only found success, but has also maintained velocity through his motion change.

Wheeler has made two starts so far in 2018 against the Marlins and Nationals. He surrendered four runs over 13 innings while striking out nine batters. He is the only Mets’ starter to go seven innings in any start, and he has thrown 66% of his pitches for strikes.

The mechanical change seems to be paying early dividends and his slider looks like it did when he was bursting onto the scene. His fastball is still sitting in the mid-90s, and he has started to lean more on his changeup. His slider still generates a 18% Whiff rate, yet his change Whiff rate has climbed to a career-best 8%. 

He gets his next start versus the Cardinals. The Cards have mustered only a .253 AVG versus righties this season, and they lack any true real lefty threats outside of Matt Carpenter.

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With the mechanical changes and him finding early success as he rounds more and more into form, fantasy owners should start to be more intrigued by Wheeler again. He may not hit the ceiling that fantasy owners once thought, but the Mets made it priority to keep him in the rotation moving forward and fantasy owners may need to do just that.