ATLANTA — Zack Wheeler will have the benefit of a home game for his major league debut.
When the Mets' top pitching prospect walks to the mound tonight for Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Braves, he only will have to peer behind the visitor's dugout at Turner Field for affirmation he has arrived to The Show.
Wheeler, a product of nearby Dallas, Ga., likely will see hundreds of acquaintances waiting for him.
"Everybody is nervous and excited," Wheeler's older brother Adam told The Post yesterday. "We could fill up two or three sections of seats — people that know people that know Zack — so it's crazy."
Anthony J. Causi
Matt Harvey
In what The Post has billed as "Super Tuesday" for the past week, ace Matt Harvey is scheduled to pitch Game 1 of today's doubleheader before Wheeler gets the ball in the nightcap.
Anticipation of the moment has been building since July 27, 2011, when the Mets traded Carlos Beltran to the Giants and received Wheeler in return. The right-hander could join Harvey to give the Mets a 1-2 rotation punch that rivals any in baseball.
But the 23-year-old Wheeler will take a humble approach for now.
"I don't think I'm the savior at all," Wheeler said. "We've got great arms here and you've got great players. We might not be doing too well right now, but I know the talent of these guys and hopefully we can turn it around here soon. I'm just trying to come up here and help the team any way I can."
Wheeler will wear uniform No. 45. It's a number Adam Wheeler, now 30, began wearing in his youth because of his affinity for Michael Jordan, who donned that number with the Double-A Birmingham Barons in 1994 as he took a break from basketball.
"I wore 45 because I'm a big Jordan fan," Adam Wheeler said. "I thought it was cool Michael Jordan played minor league baseball. I have his Barons jersey at home."
Zack Wheeler was 4-2 with a 3.93 ERA this season in 13 starts for Triple-A Las Vegas. There were bumps along the way, including a blister that slowed him early in the season, affecting his grip on his slider, and a sore right shoulder joint that forced him to miss a start.
Wheeler would like to think spending 2 1/2 months in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League will prove beneficial.
"What I took away from that league, it puts you in situations that you might not be in sometimes, like ground balls just getting through one after another," Wheeler said. "You get out of it sometimes, and sometimes you don't. It might boost your confidence a little bit, and that's what I took away from that league."
Wheeler considers himself part of the long-term solution for the Mets.
"I know people are going to scrutinize, we're not doing too well right now," Wheeler said. "But hopefully we can turn it around and everybody will like us again."
Manager Terry Collins has waited for this day as long as anyone within the Mets organization, Wheeler excluded.
"This kid is very talented, and we're very lucky to have him," Collins said. "Everybody is looking forward to seeing him pitch, including the other 25 guys in that clubhouse. They're all looking forward to it, too. I just want him to go out there in the first inning, take a deep breath and look around the stadium, take it all in and bear down on that catcher's glove."
Adam Wheeler, a former pitcher in the Yankees farm system, is just focused on his baby brother surviving tonight.
"I worry," Adam Wheeler said. "I am a worry-wart. It's really hard to enjoy the moment, but I think I will."
mpuma@nypost.com
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