Two home starts, one hope: a response to Zack Wheeler's 2017 debut

In celebration of Zack Wheeler's return to the mound yesterday (4/7/17), I'm reflecting back on the time I saw him pitching for the Mets at CitiField. The day was Sunday, June 30, 2013, and it also just happened to be Wheeler's first career start at home. This was the third outing of his career, his previous two road starts having gone beautifully and shakily respectively. On June 30, the Washington Nationals got out to an early lead with a four-run second, tacking on another in the third. Wheeler ended the day with four and two-thirds innings, having given up five runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Flash forward to April 7, 2017 when Zack Wheeler, pitching in his first start of the season, gave up five runs on six hits across four innings. Add in a walk and four strikeouts, and the final stat line doesn't look so different from his first home start in 2013. In the 2013 game, he gave up two home runs compared to (only) one yesterday.

Are there lots of other differences I'm skimming over? Absolutely. For one, yesterday was Wheeler's first start in two full seasons, and his future seemed much clearer four years ago. But, especially given the long road back, I thought it interesting to point out the similarities between his first home start and his 2017 debut. In 2013, he followed up his disappointing start with five strong starts in July. Except for one, he went five or more innings (completing seven innings in two of them), and except for one, he gave up fewer than three runs. Most importantly, all five of those starts resulted in Mets wins, three attributed officially to Wheeler.

Before we panic regarding Zack Wheeler, I think it's best that Mets fans -- in terms of results but certainly not health concerns -- look to his history and hope that it is in the process of repeating itself, at least in the short term, starting with yesterday.


SOURCES:
- www.baseballreference.com: "Zack Wheeler"