The wheels had already fallen off for Alek Manoah this season, and now the rims are starting to come off too.
The former All-Star pitcher Manoah went viral on Tuesday for the absolutely putrid stat line that he put up while pitching in the Florida Complex League. Manoah, who was making his very first start in the FCL, got demolished for 11 earned runs on ten hits. He also walked two batters and didn’t even make it through three innings.
Here is a visualization of exactly how the nightmare happened for Manoah.
https://twitter.com/CodifyBaseball/status/1673743888853639170
An AL All-Star just last season (as well as an All-MLB First Team selection), Manoah was a shell of a shell of himself for the Blue Jays this year. After he posted a 6.36 ERA with 42 walks in just 13 starts, the team demoted him to the FCL to work on his issues.
Tuesday’s stat line should probably be taken with a slight grain of salt since MLB pitchers who are sent down to the minors sometimes just focus on throwing one particular pitch or working on one particular aspect of their mechanics. But it still raises all sorts of red flags that Manoah got beat up like that by batters who are in a rookie league (even lower than Single-A).
Just a few months ago, Manoah was looking like one of the boldest young hurlers in baseball. Now it might be awhile before we see Manoah pitching at even the Triple-A level again.
