Blue Jays: Alek Manoah to serve as weekly correspondent on MLB Network during season

In a rather interesting development, Alek Manoah, the ace of the Toronto Blue Jays, will be a "weekly correspondent" on MLB Network over the course of the 2023 regular season. Yankees fans will want to look the other way.

The 25-year-old will be making his first appearance on the Network Tuesday, April 4th at 10:30 AM Eastern Time.

In this role, Manoah will break down his performance, the latest with how the Blue Jays have been playing and just overall observations with other players/clubs around the league. Notably, this is the first time an active MLB player will serve a a regular contributor to the program.

Manoah told reporters, "it will be a different experience for me, but one I'm incredibly excited about. I love talking about the game and I'm a big fan of MLB Central so I jumped at the chance when an opportunity came up." In addition to his participation on MLB Central, Manoah will also be appearing "in a recurring content series on MLB social platforms."

While still so young, Manoah has turned himself into a dominant force atop the Blue Jays' rotation. Last year, he made a full season of 31 starts, posting a 2.24 ERA with a 174 ERA+ and 16-7 win-loss record. Along the way, he made the All-Star Game, finished third in the AL Cy Young Award race and even earned some AL MVP votes, finishing 17th there.

A workhorse on the mound and a student of the game off of it, it's going to be interesting to see what Manoah will be able to offer MLB Network in this new role. He is already establishing himself as one of the leaders of this Blue Jays squad and will do great in this correspondent role.

Manoah will be joining Robert Flores, Lauren Shehadi and former Blue Jays player Mark DeRosa on this panel. His first appearance with this crew will come one day prior to what should be the second start of his season. He will be looking to improve upon the results he saw on Opening Day against the Cardinals.