TORONTO – Alek Manoah makes his next start Sunday with the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, an outing the Toronto Blue Jays expect will provide a better gauge of the big right-hander’s progress.
Manager John Schneider made the announcement Saturday, adding that the club felt facing the Portland Sea Dogs in a night game “was the next best step for him.” The 25-year-old put up a gruesome pitching line in a start Tuesday at the Florida Complex League, allowing 11 runs on 10 hits, two of them homers, and two walks with three strikeouts in 2.2 innings.
“It’s just the combination of where he’s at and then the competition that we’re wanting to see the results against,” said Schneider. “It’ll probably be a little bit less aggressive out of the chute hacking (from opposing hitters). I think it just gives him and us a better feel of where everything’s at.”
Manoah was optioned to the Complex League on June 6, the day after recording one out while allowing six runs on seven hits and a walk against the Houston Astros. The Blue Jays have worked with the 2022 all-star on getting back to his pitching delivery from a year ago, upping his velocity, throwing strikes and pitching with better tempo.
Tuesday’s FCL outing against the Yankees was his first in a competitive game since the demotion and Blue Jays tried to play down the results, pointing to process gains in spite of the numbers.
The complex league is essentially rookie ball played in closed environments in the intense Florida day-time heat – the loop’s precursor, the Gulf Coast League, was known derisively as the Gulf Roast League – and double-A should help him up the adrenaline.
“That’s part of it, too,” said Schneider. “You’re playing under the lights, you have people announcing the batters that are coming up and you have an actual bat boy instead of a player running to grab the bats. Things like that. It’s just the logical next best thing for him.”
Schneider said the decision was made “collectively” and that Manoah won’t be under any pitch count – “if he’s rolling, it’s going to be as long as he can go,” he added.