Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah has a 5.87 ERA in 87.1 innings this season.
He has been quite disappointing, one of the worst pitchers in baseball considering the enormous expectations placed on him before the start of the season.
He was one of the Cy Young finalists in the American League in 2022, and now, he has been demoted twice in the same season.
That’s right: the Jays announced that he will be going to the minor leagues again, this time to Triple-A, per Talkin’ Baseball.
The Blue Jays announce they have optioned Alek Manoah to Triple-A pic.twitter.com/R1JgIDqjEe
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 11, 2023
On June 6, the Jays said he would be going to the Florida Complex League, where their spring training facilities are.
There, Manoah worked on his mechanics, conditioning, and other things that had caused him to post a 6.36 ERA at the time of his demotion.
Upon returning, Manoah immediately had a quality start: a six-inning, one-run, eight-strikeout effort against the Detroit Tigers.
Fans, and the organization as a whole, were optimistic again about his outlook for the rest of the year.
Things started going south not too long after that, though.
In five starts after that Tigers outing, Manoah has a 5.79 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP in 23.1 innings.
His BB/K ratio has been a mediocre 17/23, so no: he is still not out of the woods.
With Toronto needing every win to hang on to their Wild Card spot, they had no choice but to send Manoah down.
They can’t risk running him out every five days to get punished by even mediocre lineups.
Perhaps one day he will show the world the pitcher he truly is.
It’s looking more and more likely that 2023 just isn’t his year.
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