Wheeler's father used to be a Braves fan
U.S. Futures All-Star Zack Wheeler #45 of the San Francisco Giants throws a pitch during the 2010 XM All-Star Futures Game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. (July 11, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
Zack Wheeler, the prized pitching prospect the Mets are getting from the Giants for Carlos Beltran, grew up in suburban Atlanta with a Braves fan for a father. And it wasn't long ago when Wheeler seemed tailor-made to be a Brave himself.
Atlanta owned the seventh pick in the 2009 amateur draft, and those who saw the hard-throwing righthander strike out 151 and walk only 20 as a high school senior couldn't help but envision him blossoming into a modern-day Greg Maddux.
B.B. Abbott, Wheeler's agent, said Wednesday he's "100 percent" convinced the Braves would have drafted Wheeler if he had been available. But things didn't play out as everyone, perhaps including Wheeler's family, might have hoped.
One pick ahead of the Braves, the Giants nabbed Wheeler.
"They picked the Braves' pockets, for sure," Abbott said of the Giants.
Flash forward two years and here are the Giants throwing another jab at Braves fans. They're not only trading the 21-year-old Wheeler to a team in the same division, but also a team that not too long ago was considered the Braves' fiercest rival.
Wheeler's father, Barry, told Newsday yesterday that his son is too young to remember the tense battles in the late 1990s between the Mets and Braves. But his father certainly recalls those days, and he said switching allegiances might be tough for others to accept.
"When the Mets play the Braves, you know which team I'll be pulling for, and it won't be the Braves," he said. When told his friends surely will understand, he laughed and said, "I'm not so sure they will."
Abbott and Wheeler described the pitcher as quiet, humble and levelheaded. Abbott said you'd never know he signed a contract worth almost $3.5 million, suggesting that he's benefited from having two older brothers, one of whom played in the Yankees' minor league system.
The Yankees drafted Adam Wheeler in the 13th round in 2001, and he pitched four seasons before injury forced him to retire. According to his father, Adam formed a friendship with former Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden, then a Yankees minor league instructor, and once used his connections to have Gooden sign a Mets jersey for Zack.
Barry Wheeler said the jersey is still in their home, which may have seemed slightly out of place around Braves fans. Added Wheeler: "That's about the extent he knows about the Mets."
