Zack Wheeler appears to be a fan of spare ribs.
The Phillies ace and former Mets starter revealed Wednesday that he kept a rib that doctors removed during a September procedure on his right shoulder.
Wheeler hit the injured list last August with a blood clot in his “upper extremity” near the right shoulder before being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome.
The 35-year-old ultimately underwent two separate procedures.
“You have to do a bunch of stuff to [the rib], so I guess it doesn’t decay,” Wheeler told reporters at BayCare Park in Clearwater, Fla., noting that Phillies head trainer Paul Buchheit helped “preserve” the bone.
“I just have it sitting in the house.”
The first procedure was thrombolysis performed by Dr. Paul DiMuzio at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in late August. Weeks later, he underwent thoracic outlet decompression surgery with Dr. Robert Thompson in St. Louis, per The Athletic.
The second surgery required the removal of his first rib near the right shoulder.
Wheeler, who spent his first five MLB seasons with the Amazin’s, was asked exactly where the rib resides now that he has it.
“It’s in my closet,” a laughing Wheeler said. “It’s just in a case.”
The right-hander said Dr. Thompson typically waits about a month before returning surgically removed body parts to patients, but expedited the process in his case.
“He gave it to me in a bag,” Wheeler added. “It was pretty gross.”
The blood clot and subsequent TOS procedure were a scary ordeal, but Wheeler’s recovery is going well.
While Wheeler will not be ready by Opening Day, team president Dave Dombrowski expects the three-time All-Star to be ready soon thereafter.
“I don’t think it’s going to be long that he’ll be ready,” Dombrowski said Tuesday, according to The Athletic.
Before the injury, Wheeler was in the midst of another spectacular season, sporting a 10-5 record with a 2.71 ERA in 24 starts.
Wheeler will be vital to the Phillies’ postseason aspirations, but his days in Philadelphia appear numbered.
Months before the blood clot, Wheeler said he would retire at the end of the three-year, $126 million extension he signed in March 2024 — even if he’s still an elite pitcher.
“Doesn’t matter. No,” Wheeler said at the time. “It’ll be easy to walk away.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
