What’s Up with the Blue Jays Alek Manoah?
BY GREG BUCHANAN for The Bean
Something’s up with Alek Manoah. The 25-year-old pitcher hasn’t been himself since opening day of the season. His 4.83 ERA and 5.5 BB/9 are clear signs that he has been wobbly this so far season. However, if you go a little deeper, you’ll find more detailed explanations for why his secondary pitches aren’t as sharp and why he’s allowing an unusually high number of baserunners.
At first, one may explore the idea of Manoah falling behind too often. Surely, if a pitcher is walking too many hitters, it’s because he’s starting behind in the count, right? Well, with Manoah, that’s only a small ingredient in a larger problem. Through his early starts this season, Manoah has tossed first-pitch strikes to 58% of batters. That’s not great, but it’s also not terrible. It’s down from 2022 (62%) but on par with his rookie season in 2021 (57%).
It’s easy to forget this is just Manoah’s third big-league season. The Florida native raced through two spectacular seasons, set a very high standard for expectations, and is now laboring a bit. Again, it’s just an eight-start sample size, and I’m sure Manoah is working very hard behind the scenes, but perhaps a philosophical adjustment could help.
Maybe Alejandro Kirk sets his target closer to the heart of the plate to help Manoah get ahead? Maybe the battery decides to pitch backward more? Pitching backwards is when a pitcher uses their secondary offerings rather than their fastball early in the count. Traditionally, hitters expect fastballs early in the count and off-speed pitches late in the count, so reverse it on them! Or perhaps Kirk encourages Manoah to go straight for the kill on 0-2 and 1-2 counts instead of wasting pitches? These are just theories.
The bottom line, the stuff isn’t there right now, but that’s not a doomsday proclamation. Manoah is an exceptionally talented pitcher who’s tangled with much deeper adversity than a lackluster breaking ball. The Jays ace will ultimately regain his form, but moving ahead, it’s important to pay attention to count leverage and slider effectiveness.