Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is gearing up to return to the mound after having the 2025 season cut short by a blood clot that required him to undergo surgery. Doctors needed to remove one of his ribs to fix the problem, and it’s apparently sitting somewhere in his house after deciding to hang onto it as a keepsake.
Major League Baseball has managed to attract plenty of eccentric players over the decades, including a number of pitchers who were known for their quirky and borderline erratic behavior.
It’s hard to think of a more notable example than Mark Fidrych, the enigmatic hurler known as the “The Bird” who meticulously groomed the mound to remove cleat marks and had a tendency to talk to the ball. There’s also Doc Ellis, the man who managed to throw a no-hitter while tripping on LSD, and Carlos Zambrano, the fiery Venezuelan who was ordered to attend anger management classes after fighting his own teammates multiple times.
Zack Wheeler hasn’t done much to be lumped in with those guys during 12-year MLB career that began with the Mets in 2013. However, the three-time All-Star, who is preparing to kick off his seventh campaign with the Phillies, has managed to turn plenty of heads with an admission concerning the season-ending surgery he underwent last year.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler decided to hang onto the rib he had removed during surgery
As is the case with many professional athletes, Wheeler has had to grapple with his fair share of injuries over the course of his career. He missed both the 2015 and 2016 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and in 2020, he had to pitch with a fake fingernail after he managed to displace an actual one while putting on a pair of jeans.
The 35-year-old really came into his own after signing with the Phillies in 2020, as all three of his All-Star Game appearances have come during his time in Philadelphia, which includes back-to-back nods in the past two seasons.
Wheeler was leading the league in strikeouts last August when his season was cut short after he was diagnosed with venous thoracic outlet syndrome, which resulted in deep vein thrombosis (more commonly known as a blood clot) in his throwing shoulder.
He underwent surgery that required doctors to remove one of his ribs to address the issue, and according to MLB.com, he was allowed to keep the bone he’s decided to hang onto, saying:
“They give it to you after the surgery. The doctor walked in… He was like, ‘I wanted to give it to you personally,’ so he just walked in and gave it to me in a bag.”
It’s currently sitting in a closet in his house, but if the Phillies are looking for some sort of home run celebration prop this season, they just got an amazing candidate.