Zack Wheeler turned down Major League Baseball’s late invitation to join the National League All-Star Game roster, saying on Saturday he was not going to be the fifth choice. Wheeler told reporters in Detroit that MLB called him on Thursday about a replacement spot, but by then he had already decided he would not take it.
The refusal came after a season that would usually make the case for a roster place on its own. Wheeler is 9-1 with a 2.28 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 14 starts over 87.0 innings pitched, and he tied his career high with 14 strikeouts in a 4-1 Phillies win against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. He said the All-Star Game carries weight during a player’s career and after it, which is part of why being left off the first roster stung so much.
Wheeler said he felt disrespected by the initial omission and made clear that the problem was not only the late call, but what it represented. He said he might not have earned a spot from the start, but added that he should at least have been a second choice. Once he felt Major League Baseball had “messed that up,” he said, he was out and would not participate in the game.
That stance leaves the National League All-Star Game roster without one of the league’s best starters, even though the invitation came after Wheeler had already built a strong case with his numbers. He missed the start of the season after thoracic outlet surgery last year, was activated on April 25, and still put together a dominant first half. The timing also matters because he is scheduled to start on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers and Tarik Skubal, making the late replacement request collide directly with his own rotation duties.
The broader issue is the way pitchers reach the All-Star stage in the first place. Wheeler had been left off the initial National League roster before MLB reached out, and pitchers are selected by their peers rather than by fan voting. For Wheeler, the math of a replacement invite did not matter once he felt the process had reduced him to an afterthought. He said he was not going to be the fifth option, and he acted like it.
