Phillies confirm starting rotation for first four games, update on Ranger Suarez

We are six days away from Opening Day at Nationals Park, and Rob Thomson officially announced the first four starters for the Phillies in 2025.

For the opener in the nation’s capital against the Nationals, Zack Wheeler will get the ball for the second straight season. He threw six innings in last year’s opener against the Braves at Citizens Bank Park, allowing no runs on five hits with five strikeouts. In 2024, Wheeler posted a 2.57 ERA in 200 innings with 224 strikeouts. 

He made his final start of the spring on Friday, throwing five innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk while striking out four. Wheeler will face off against MacKenzie Gore. In 166.1 innings last season, Gore pitched to a 3.90 ERA and struck out 181 batters.

The new guy, Jesus Luzardo, gets Game 2. While Luzardo only had 12 starts in 2024 due to injury, he is back to throwing upper 90s this spring. He will make his final start of the spring on Saturday against the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field and makes his Phillies regular season debut on Saturday, March 29.

In the series finale against Washington, Aaron Nola will get the ball. The big question with this rotation was if Thomson would have Nola as the No. 2 pitcher, or have him third to split up the righties and lefties. Ultimately, he placed Nola at No. 3, which is the right call. This spring, Nola has a 1.86 ERA and 18 strikeouts in just 9.2 innings.

When the Phillies return to South Philadelphia on Monday, March 31, they will have Cristopher Sanchez on the bump against Colorado. In 16.2 innings this spring, Sanchez has a 1.62 ERA and 19 strikeouts, and he has even reached the upper 90s. Sanchez took a huge leap in 2024, recording an ERA of 3.32 in 32 starts, and has had an excellent spring. He might be the best No. 4 starter in baseball.

Now, what will they do with the fifth starter?

Ranger Suarez is dealing with mild back stiffness. He did not throw Friday as initially intended but is feeling better and is scheduled to throw again on Saturday.

“It’s different than last year, very different from last year,” Suarez said through his interpreter on Friday. “I mean, it’s just mild discomfort compared to last year.”

Last year’s back problem destroyed Suarez’s Cy Young case, as in his last 11 starts he went 2-6 with a 6.54 ERA.

“About taking it slow, I don’t think we’re going to take it that slow,” Suarez said. “We’re one week away from the season starting. At the same time, I want to take care of it as quickly as possible so I can be back out there again.”

Suarez says he hopes to make his first start, which would be April 2 against the Rockies. If he needs more time, the Phillies have two off-days in the first six days of the season, which could move his first start to April 6 against the Dodgers.

However, if he still is not ready to go and needs to be placed on the 15-day IL, we could see Taijuan Walker in the rotation to start the year if Suarez is not ready to go. Walker this spring has an ERA of 6.92 in 13 innings.

“About taking it slow, I don’t think we’re going to take it that slow,” Suárez said. “We’re one week away from the season starting. At the same time, I want to take care of it as quickly as possible so I can be back out there again.”

In other news from Friday, Andrew Painter threw live batting practice on Friday, his second of the spring. The Phillies are also starting outfield prospect Justin Crawford at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

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