Raising an Ace: Zack Wheeler
For the first time in years, the New York Mets have a couple of pitching prospects in Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler that project to be the future of their rotation.
Harvey has already established himself in his short career as a major leaguer, with a 10-6 record in 27 career starts, alongside a 2.25 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 176.1 innings. Wheeler on the other hand, through only three starts thus far, has been inconsistent.
In his big league debut, Wheeler blanked the Braves through six innings, allowing only four hits and striking out seven men on 102 pitches. He did walk five batters, however, and scouts have noted Wheeler's command as the bane of his potential.
Although he has only issued five walks over his last two starts, Wheeler's homeruns and hits allowed have been up in fewer innings pitched. This may be the result of Zack compensating for his command issues by pitching to contact, instead of carving hitters like he did in his debut against a team full of free swingers.
Young pitchers often have some command issues. Their pitches sometimes have too much movement, or they struggle with throwing inside and painting corners. Wheeler has electric stuff, but he also has a serious mechanical issue in his delivery that has afflicted more than a few talented individuals: an inverted arm action.
Instead of pointing downward as he plants his left foot, Wheeler's forearm and elbow should be closer to an upward L. At Wheeler's current arm position pictured below, he is behind on the pitch which leads to rushing.
According to some pitching coaches, rushing leaves the pitcher susceptible to missing their spots and throwing balls up in the strike zone. Others claim rushing allows pitchers to throw the ball harder than normally, but the extra torque generated may wear the arm quicker than traditional means.
The mechanical flaw that Wheeler unfortunately has, has supposedly been linked to the influx of elbow and shoulder injuries in pitchers today. Former Cubs sensation, Mark Prior lost his career because of the unnecessary stress taxed on by his inverted arm action.
Prior, like Wheeler, entered the Show on an up and coming franchise behind an already proven young fireballer in Kerry Wood. Chicago around that time was in more of a position to contend for a pennant than the Mets today, and they therefore threw Prior out there as often as they could for as long as they could.
In 2003, his sophomore season, Prior pitched 211.1 innings over 30 starts, averaging around seven innings an outing. This was before teams observed pitch counts and innings as thoroughly as they did today, which has been an arbitrary remedy for the rise in injuries amongst pitchers.
Last season, the Washington Nationals monitored Stephen Strasburg's pitch count and innings total after the flamethrower returned from Tommy John surgery, eventually shutting him down in the middle of a playoff race. Strasburg, like Wheeler and Prior, has an inverted arm action and many prognosticators predicted his eventual need for surgery.
Wheeler's arm action isn't as violent as Strasburg's and unlike Prior, he's pitching in an "easier" era where PED's aren't rampantly bombarding locker rooms as they once were, but one still has to be somewhat concerned.
See, it's far too late in the game to make any mechanical changes to Zack Wheeler and any other pitcher that makes it to the Majors with an inverted arm action. A change that drastic this late in one's career could kill a pitcher's momentum and in some cases, crush their confidence.
Former Mets pitcher Oliver Perez's talent collapsed after the Pittsburg Pirates traded for him early in his career and changed his mechanics. He would have some moments from that point on where he'd look brilliant, enough to earn a 3 year $36 million contract from the Mets, but overall, he was worthless and hurt his team more often than not.
The best way to treat the inverted arm action epidemic in baseball today is to simply stop it from occurring. In order to become an ace, one's pitching mechanics need to be habitual and consistent, and any young pitcher throwing that way should have the habit curbed at the earliest age possible to protect their longevity.
Zack Wheeler won't be the next Mark Prior as long as he abstains from overthrowing and listens to his body when feeling gassed. The Mets are a few hitters and pitchers away from competing for anything, so there shouldn't be any need to go out there for that extra inning this early in his career. Especially while his control issues continue.
As he becomes more comfortable facing major league hitters and familiarizes himself with how those batters respond to the movement and location of his pitches, he should develop his command. He may never hit every spot with every pitch like some legends because of his inverted arm action, but he seems intelligent enough to learn how to pitch through his adversity.
Even though baseball is based on brute force, the mind dominates the game. Wheeler will have to learn how to handle those rough stretches where he can't find the strike zone, is squeezed by an umpire, or when a teammate makes a costly error. He'll also have to learn, seeing as how he's a member of the Mets for the time being, how to cope with dominating for seven or eight innings and receiving a no decision or a loss because of an inept bullpen and/or anemic offense.
A lot of outliers were responsible for supposed aces not panning out. Sometimes it was mechanics and coaching, other times it was mental, and some cases, aside from those injuries where a pitcher never came back the same, it just happened: Baseball has been that kind of game.
The New York Mets have the opportunity of a lifetime with their young one-two punch of Harvey and Wheeler, but anything can happen.