LA Dodgers light up Alek Manoah, prompting a sad return to the minors for ex-Blue Jays' pitcher

For former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah, it has certainly been a long road back to the big leagues. After battling through inconsistencies and injuries during the latter parts of his tenure with the Blue Jays, Manoah had been kicking around in the minors in search of his chance to return to the majors to continue his once-promising career. The 28-year-old right-hander finally got his opportunity with the Los Angeles Angels this season, with that reality coming to fruition when he was activated from the injured list in early May.

However, luck certainly wasn’t on Manoah’s side. After just three relief appearances, he was promptly optioned down to the minors by the Angels. That decision came after the LA Dodgers lit up the 28-year-old reliever for eight earned runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts in just over 1.1 innings of work this past Saturday.

Manoah was, after all, facing the Dodgers who, without question, are one of the top teams in the major leagues. Nevertheless, he is still expected to help give the Angels quality innings and outs when needed, and in that case, he failed miserably this past weekend.

Will the former Blue Jays pitcher eventually rediscover his game despite his current struggles?

With the outburst, Manoah quickly saw his ERA balloon to 9.82, along with a dismal 2.18 WHIP. That was despite the fact that the right-hander actually had two decent outings prior to the collapse, including one against his former team in the Blue Jays. In those two appearances, he went a combined six innings of scoreless ball with three strikeouts.

However, even with that supposedly steady performance, there were early signs of inconsistency of his control and command in his previous game on May 11 against the Cleveland Guardians where he walked five batters in his five innings of work. The Angels likely had seen enough of Manoah and decided to send him down for more polishing of his pitching arsenal.

The 28-year-old pitcher likely never envisioned that his future in professional baseball would have come to this. Especially not when Manoah took the MLB by storm following a scintillating debut with the Blue Jays back in 2021. After only 35 career innings in the minors he was called up and posted a 9-2 record with a 3.22 ERA and 1.05 WHIP during his rookie campaign with Toronto. He would follow that up with an impressive 2022 sophomore season with a 16-7 record, 2.24 ERA and 0.99 WHIP, becoming a first-time All-Star and Cy Young finalist in the process. With that, Manoah’s future appeared to be limitless.

Things fell apart completely for him in 2023 and he has yet to fully recover to his prior dominance ever since. Manoah will try to prove himself once again this year in the minors.

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