Blue Jays option Manoah to Rookie-level Complex League

TORONTO – The Blue Jays simply hit the reset button on Alek Manoah. 

It’s been a shocking two months for a pitcher who completed third in American League Cy Young Award voting only a season in the past. Not solely did Manoah seem like a contemporary, front-line workhorse, he shortly emerged as one of many faces of the franchise, a cornerstone that rotations could be constructed round for years.

Instead, Manoah’s “early struggles” ultimately grew to become extra severe, together with his psychological recreation and supply caught in a battle that neither might win. Manoah was not attacking hitters with the aggressive strategy that so completely matched his larger-than-life demeanor on the mound, and also you shortly noticed that the massive right-hander is just not constructed to be a pitcher who nibbles on the edges.

“It’s not a knee-jerk reaction,” stated supervisor John Schnedier. “Like I’ve been saying all along, we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to help him get better, and we feel like that’s the proper first, initial step.”

The Florida Complex League isn’t only a step, although. It’s one million miles away. 

Geography issues, and Manoah is basically being despatched again to the place all of it started in Spring Training. The Blue Jays’ sprawling, shiny new advanced homes the entire know-how and sources a struggling pitcher might dream of, which ought to permit Manoah to return alongside at his personal tempo. Besides, this course of will command endurance from each Manoah and the Blue Jays.

“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,” Schneider stated. “In that environment is the right place to start.”

In the early days of this, all of the Blue Jays wish to see from Manoah is a bullpen session. He’ll throw on the advanced with dozens of eyes and cameras on him, however he gained’t be put into video games simply but. He’ll throw in Toronto’s new pitching lab, decide precisely what he and the Blue Jays must concentrate on and go from there.

It’s straightforward to match this to Roy Halladay, who was despatched again to Single-A in 2001 to rebuild his supply, however we’re drastically totally different pitchers, folks, struggles and sources. Frankly, some tales are uncommon for a purpose, and each Manoah and the Blue Jays are coming into some pretty uncharted territory in a sport that places a lot vitality into avoiding these precise areas.

Schneider made one other factor clear, too. Manoah continues to be a part of this staff, even when he’s in a unique space code. This shouldn’t be a case of “out of sight, out of mind”, and the staff will actively work with Manoah all through.

The group plans to “get the ball rolling” by sending David Howell, its assistant pitching coach (technique), down with Manoah. This group will even embrace distant assist from Pete Walker and Jeff Ware with the potential of extra hands-on involvement from Paul Quantrill, the 14-year MLB veteran who’s again with the Blue Jays’ entrance workplace as a particular assistant.

There’s a psychological hurdle to clear, too, amid this mess of bodily hurdles. Manoah’s struggles have by no means been clearer than in Toronto two begins in the past, when he needed to battle again his feelings.

“The mindset of ‘Don’t throw a ball here’ instead of ‘Throw a strike right here’ is … it’s a difference maker,” Manoah said. “Right now, I’m stuck in ‘Don’t throw a ball here.'”

This is so removed from what anybody anticipated in 2023, however the Blue Jays are adjusting to the brand new actuality on the fly. Bowden Francis has been recalled, representing a possible choice to take Manoah’s place within the rotation, however Toronto’s pitching depth shouldn’t be constructed to deal with way more stress than this. Until now, Toronto had been the one MLB membership to make use of simply 5 starters. 

From right here? All this has to do is figure. It’s a tall order with no actual blueprint and no actual timeline.

“Whenever he’s ready is when he’s ready,” Schneider stated. 

The time might come when, as with Halladay, that is simply an interesting word in a protracted, storied profession. Manoah is definitely able to making that occur. For now, although, it represents a full reset for each the Blue Jays and one in every of their largest stars.