The New York Mets are going through a tough season, but one thing fans can look towards for hope is the young starting rotation with Matt Harvey and now another top prospect is set to join, as the team will call up Zack Wheeler next week.
According to ESPNNewYork.com, Wheeler will get the call for next weekend's series against the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field for the series opener on Friday. Sources told the website that the team wanted him to have his debut at home and that it could change based on what the weather does while dealing with rainouts. The team likes Wheeler and wants to bring him up at the right time and after making his start at Triple-A Las Vegas tonight at Tacoma he could be called up to the major league club.
The report says that Jay Horwitz, the team's vice president for media relations, flew out to meet with Wheeler to help him prepare for the media onslaught. The reason the Mets have waited to bring him up is due to his "Super 2" deadline, which would delay his arbitration by another year if they wait. The team has gotten better pitching of late from Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner, which means they have a tough decision to make, but since they have a double header coming up, the rotation may stay intact.
Wheeler came over in the trade before last year for Carlos Beltran to the San Francisco Giants and now the Mets have two players they feel will be rocks in their rotation for the next decade in Harvey and Wheeler. Wheeler has been doing very well in Vegas, going 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 11 Pacific Coast League starts as a 23-year-old.
