Blue Jays: Alek Manoah absolutely destroys MLB Network "analyst" on Twitter
MLB Network recently released its list of the top-10 starting pitchers in the league and there was one surprising omission: Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah.
As much of a travesty as that is, this story somehow gets worse.
On Wednesday evening, the network had a rountdable of analysts discussing both this list as well as going into details regarding which starting pitcher under 30 they'd pick to start a franchise around.
Anthony Recker, a former big league catcher who happens to be one of the worst offensive players in recent memory, made sure to mention the fact that he loves Alek Manoah, but he just "wishes Manoah would hit the gym more."
As you can probably imagine, this did not go over well on the world of social media. Once word of this reached Manoah himself, he made sure to clap back at Recker.
To the surprise of nobody, Recker immediately responded to this tweet, saying that the video was taken out of context and that people are trying to stir up drama by cropping out a specific part of the point he was trying to make about Manoah.
When you go and watch the entirety of this segment, Recker mentioned Spencer Strider, Triston McKenzie and others that would not make his list. However, only one of these "just missed" names received the criticism of needing to hit the gym more.
Manoah doubled down and made sure to put Recker in his place even further. The irony of all of this is that Manoah has training regimen of his posted all over Twitter at the @ManoahDriven account he references in his second tweet.
Former Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman came to Manoah's defense, saying that Recker needs to get off TV and find a new hobby if he can only find success by hating on people and their bodies.
There's no way around what Recker said and it's pretty embarrassing that he took the time out of his day to make these comments about Manoah, who has emerged as one of the better pitchers in the game today.
What makes these comments even more of a head-scratcher, is the fact that a career .199 hitter who couldn't even hit his own weight in seven years is the one that feels the need to make comments like this.
Stroman's comments summed it up perfectly. Time for Recker to consider a career change.