Blue Jays To Activate Alek Manoah For Sunday Begin

Alek Manoah is about to make his return to the majors on Sunday, as MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson (X link) studies that the Blue Jays will formally activate Manoah from the 15-day injured checklist.  Manoah will begin towards the Nationals in his season debut, and the right-hander is already in Washington and within the Jays’ clubhouse at the moment in preparation.

Manoah hasn’t pitched within the Present since August 10, when he allowed 4 runs in 4 innings in a 4-3 Blue Jays loss to the Guardians.  He was optioned to Triple-A the subsequent day, which was the second time that he was despatched to the minors throughout his catastrophe of a 2023 season.  After struggling badly at first of the season, Manoah was despatched to the Advanced League for a deeper dive on his mechanics, and he spent a couple of month working issues out.  Toronto recalled him final July however the outcomes weren’t significantly better, so Manoah was towards optioned to Triple-A but he didn’t truly pitch throughout the project.

These many months later, it nonetheless isn’t precisely clear why Manoah’s 2023 season got here to such an abrupt finish, amidst some rumors of a attainable harm or service time-related displeasure over his demotion.  The questions continued in Spring Coaching when Manoah made only one (tough) look earlier than being sidelined with shoulder issues, and he started the season on the 15-day IL in an effort to make up for that misplaced spring prep time.  The outcomes had been blended at finest over 5 rehab begins, as Manoah posted an 8.69 ERA over 19 2/3 innings.

Manoah’s most up-to-date Triple-A outing, nevertheless, was simply his finest.  On April 30, Manoah allowed a run on two hits and two walks over six innings, whereas recording 12 strikeouts.  Because the Jays needed to decide anyway on Manoah since his rehab window was about to shut, the righty’s sturdy begin helped make issues simpler on the crew, plus Toronto can also be going through a rotation emptiness.

Yariel Rodriguez was positioned on the 15-day IL earlier this week, and with Bowden Francis additionally on harm, Manoah was essentially the most logical choice if the Jays didn’t need to go for a bullpen recreation.  As a result of the Jays have 4 off-days inside the first 16 days of Could, they didn’t technically want a fifth starter, and will’ve simply stored the opposite 4 starters on their ordinary turns.  Including a fifth arm provides the others additional relaxation, and it additionally exhibits some religion on the crew’s half that Manoah has overcome among the issues which have inexplicably set again his profession.

Manoah pitched rather well as a rookie in 2021, and was even higher in 2022 whereas posting a 2.24 ERA in 196 2/3 innings and ending third in AL Cy Younger Award voting.  All indicators pointed to the previous first-rounder turning into a staple of Toronto’s rotation, besides his numbers out of the blue plummeted downward in 2023.  Batters had been out of the blue making tons of onerous contact towards Manoah’s choices (after he had among the finest hard-hit ball stats within the league in 2021-22), and his stroll charge skyrocketed to 14.2%.

As shocking because it was to see Manoah sharply regress, it could be equally shocking to see him shortly revert to his ace kind over the course of the 2024 marketing campaign.  Simply pitching nicely sufficient to stay within the majors would depend as a pleasant signal of progress that Manoah was getting nearer to being on monitor, plus that situation would naturally be an enormous assist for the Blue Jays’ rotation depth.  If Manoah is ready to final as a fifth starter, Rodriguez and Francis might be deployed as swingmen when wholesome, including sufficient size to maintain the aid corps contemporary over the course of the season.

In a extra rapid Blue Jays roster transfer, Kevin Kiermaier was activated from the 10-day injured checklist at the moment, with outfielder Nathan Lukes despatched right down to Triple-A.  Kiermaier ended up lacking solely a minimal period of time because of hip flexor irritation, which is a aid given how Kiermaier underwent hip surgical procedure in 2022.  The IL journey would possibly nicely function a reset on Kiermaier’s season, as he was hitting solely .193/.246/.228 in 62 plate appearances earlier than being sidelined.