Spring training 2026, Day 2.

Reality has already hit Jack Wheeler hard. And he hasn’t even played his first pro game.

Jack Wheeler was raised with perspective. To think critically, and on different levels. The son of a lawyer and of an executive vice president for a national recycling company, turning things over in his mind and thinking analytically has always been part of the deal.

He wasn’t able to fully access that in the moment on January 22.

The 19-year-old still hasn’t stepped in the box for his first official pro at-bat. But on that day, the business of baseball brushed him back, up and in.

His father Garret had just come home from the office and the two were about to head out to hit a little bit, part of his routine before he would head to Arizona for his first spring training. But not before Wheeler’s phone blew up.