The southpaw is working primarily out of the Lions bullpen this spring, where he has given opponents fits, limiting them to a .241 batting average through 12 appearances. He is 1-2 with an 8.79 ERA in 14.1 innings. In 2009 he made 16 appearances, two of them starts, and earned a 6.30 earned run average. The tall lefty struck out 18 and walked 17 in 30 innings of work. Wheeler was named the Torrance High School Athlete of the Year during his senior season. Wheeler has athletics in his bloodline: His father, Gerard, played baseball at San Bernardino Valley, his mother, Heather, played on the JV basketball team at UCLA and his brother, Ryan, was a fifth-round selection of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2009 MLB Draft.