Alek Manoah’s Nightmare Season Continued With Dreadful First Rookie Ball Start

Toronto sent the starter down at the beginning of the month.

Alek Manoah has had a difficult start to the season, pitching to a 6.36 ERA in 13 starts this year. The starter was having such a tough time at the major league level that the Blue Jays sent him down to the Florida Complex League earlier this month.

After several weeks off, Manoah took the mound on Tuesday for the first time since getting demoted. However, instead of taking a step forward, Manoah struggled mightily against the Florida Complex League Yankees, allowing 11 runs on 10 hits and two home runs , getting pulled after just 2 2/3 innings pitched.

Manoah may have been more focused on specific tweaks to approach regardless of whether he got batters out, which would make his line easier to accept. Still, the Florida Complex League is primarily made up of teenagers, so it is alarming that Manoah’s line blew up the way that it did.

This probably is a smaller deal than it looks. If he's working on very specific things in the zone, super-aggressive minor-league hitters will tee off. If he was trying to be competitive then uh-oh https://t.co/Jn9gE7OGUz

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) June 27, 2023

When the Blue Jays sent Manoah down, they remained committed to getting him right, which is why they chose to send him to the FCL instead of Triple A.

“Alek is a guy who, for as highly as we’ve spoken about him for a long time, we’re confident that when he is himself, he’s still going to be a huge part of what we’re trying to do,” manager John Schneider said at the time. “In that environment is the right place to start.”

Last year, Manoah was an All-Star and finished third in AL Cy Young voting, and the Blue Jays need him to get back to that level at the top of their rotation.