Blue Jays' Manoah High On Compete, Low On Command vs. Yankees

Blue Jays' Alek Manoah walked seven batters Monday vs the Yankees in his most erratic start of the season.

TORONTO – Alek Manoah’s never had trouble working up the gusto to perform as a pro athlete.

When the stuff lets him down, as it has in 2023, the right-hander can, out of sheer will, power forward for some respectable outings. There was that seven-inning shutout on April 5. He also diced at Yankee Stadium on April 28 and followed that up with a respectable five-inning start at home versus the Mariners a week later.

The pre-game chatter ahead of Monday’s showdown with the Yankees, from both manager John Schneider and general manager Ross Atkins, was about encouraging signs in Manoah’s game. In particular, both the skipper and GM complimented Manoah’s improved velocity while noting his strike-throwing needed to improve.

"The thing that gives me such confidence about Alek," Atkins said, "is he has, I think, the hardest part of performing at this level figured out, and it's the compete factor and never backing down from a challenge."

Added Atkins: "I think it really just comes down to the walks are a little up for him and more consistently being on the plate and executing in the zone, and we’ll see better results."

Neither stuff nor command was sharp on this breezy evening at Rogers Centre. Manoah ramped it up early, whiffing Jake Bauers, the first Yankees batter of the game, on some high cheese at 95 mph. It was a flawlessly executed sequence that was immediately overshadowed by an Aaron Judge home run. Just like that, back down to earth.

Manoah rebounded to get Anthony Rizzo, but soon buckled again. After Gleyber Torres singled, Willie Calhoun unloaded on a center-cut fastball for a 404-foot home run to right-center field. That first frame offered Blue Jays fans a brief slash of agony. But then the avalanche of walks began.

"It's uncharacteristic of him, seven walks," Schneider said post-game. "I don't know. I've got to look at [Manoah's outing] a little bit more closely, if it's mechanical, if it's trying to do a little bit too much with certain pitches, but he needs to flip the script a little bit here and get in the zone."

It was truly remarkable how quickly things unraveled. Manoah never had complete control of his arsenal, but by the fifth inning, all the Yankees had to do was leave their bats on their shoulders. After plating two runs in the fourth, Manoah opened the fifth with a walk... and another walk. 

The home crowd groaned; some folks even booed. His seventh and final free pass of the evening, this time to Calhoun, prompted Schneider to take a slow walk from the dugout.

"I don't need to tell you guys the kind of year I had last year, but that's the game," Manoah said afterward. "This game will punch you right in the mouth ... right now the game's just testing me."

Of Manoah’s 92 pitches, only 44 were strikes, certifying this as the most erratic of his three-year career. The 25-year-old didn’t have a single outing in 2022 where he racked up more walks than strikeouts; he’s now done that in three of nine starts this year. On top of that, Manoah became the first Blue Jays pitcher to walk seven batters in a game since Marco Estrada in 2017.

Things are out of control right now, and Manoah will need a quick fix. That's not to say a solution is easy, but something needs to change because right now, competitive energy alone isn’t going to cut it.