Phillies' Zack Wheeler Has Surgery to Remove Blood Clot, Recovery Timetable TBD

The Philadelphia Phillies announced pitcher Zack Wheeler underwent a successful surgery Monday and will return at a to-be-determined time.

"Right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler underwent a successful thrombolysis procedure to remove a blood clot in his right upper extremity this morning," the announcement read. "Further treatment and a subsequent timeline of recovery for Wheeler is to be determined."

Wheeler pitched Friday's game against the Washington Nationals and allowed two earned runs across five innings.

However, the Phillies placed the right-hander on the injured list Saturday with a blood clot in his pitching arm.

"He felt a little heaviness," Phillies head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit told reporters. "So, the doctors here were great in helping to diagnose and expedite that diagnosis this morning."

Wheeler has been excellent for Philadelphia this season with a 2.71 ERA, league-best 0.94 WHIP and league-best 195 strikeouts in 149.2 innings. He made his second straight All-Star Game and was the ace of a staff with championship aspirations.

The Phillies are five games ahead of the New York Mets in the National League East in large part because of Wheeler's individual brilliance, so they will need the other starters to be even better if they are going to parlay an impressive season into October success.

With that in mind, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Taijuan Walker, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez will be under an even brighter spotlight during the stretch run for a team looking to hold off the challengers from New York.

Philadelphia didn't rule Wheeler out for the rest of the season, but his health was the bigger concern with the latest update.