The Alek Manoah experience with the Toronto Blue Jays will be taking a break, for now.
The Blue Jays have optioned struggling pitcher Alek Manoah to the Florida Complex League after his latest rough outing on Tuesday afternoon. Manoah was tagged as the opening day starter after a strong 2022 season, record of 16–7, an ERA of 2.24 and 180 strikeouts in 31 appearances, leading to his nomination as a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award.
Unfortunately he hasn’t been able to replicate that level of play in 2023, and after last night’s disastrous performance it was clear that something needed to be done to get the young pitcher back on track.
Starting against the Astros on Monday night, Manoah allowed 6 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk, while only recording a single out before being mercifully pulled in the first inning. The Blue Jays went on to lose the game 11-4.
Manoah (1-7) hasn’t won a decision in 2 months and has a 6.36 ERA and 6.52 FIP over 13 starts this season. His ERA is up to 6.36 with 48 strikeouts. The Blue Jays are fighting for a playoff spot and having a starter who tanks their chances of winning every 5th game just isn’t sustainable. Toronto is 4-9 on days when Manoah takes the mound, and 29-19 working behind any other starter.
ROSTER MOVES:
🔹 RHP Chris Bassitt reinstated from Paternity List
🔹 INF Santiago Espinal reinstated from 10-day IL
🔹 RHP Bowden Francis selected to Major League Roster
🔹 RHP Jay Jackson and INF Ernie Clement optioned to Triple-A
🔹 RHP Alek Manoah optioned to Florida… pic.twitter.com/r4rtfqzboV
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 6, 2023
In a season of disappointments for the third year starter, Manoah has still continued to put the team first. When asked after Monday’s game what the toughest part of the season was for him, he answered “Letting the team down.”
“A lot of things I’ve been working on didn’t even have a chance to really go out there and use. Just got to show up tomorrow and get ready for the next one,” Manoah added about Monday’s tough outing.
“The main focus is just do whatever we need to do to get him better,” remarked Toronto manager John Schneider on Monday night. “We’re talking about a really good pitcher who’s going through a little bit of a tough time. The cool thing about this team and organization is, yeah, we’re willing to do anything that we feel like we need to do to help you and players understand that, too.”
While this move was certainly necessary, there’s no telling how long it will take Manoah re-discover his game. The Jays aren’t sending him to Triple-A to get a few starts; this move seems more about getting him into a low pressure environment where he can work individually with pitching coaches and refine his mechanics. It might be a long process, as the Jays are sending a message that he has plenty of work to do before he’s able to get back to the majors.
In his place, 27 year old Bowden Francis will get a chance to see if he can help the Jays pitching staff. He has only 1 MLB appearance to his name, but has pitched 15.2 innings in triple A with an ERA of 3.45 thus far.
-Devon Gallant
Twitter: @DevGallant
Photo: Jeffrey Hayes. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.