After just four innings, Alek Manoah was chased: Pitcher for the Blue Jays struggles in his first MLB start since August 2023.

 

Alek Manoah, the right-hander for the Toronto Blue Jays, had been sidelined with shoulder discomfort since the start of the season. He was hoping for a change of luck in his first start of the year on Sunday. Regretfully, the Jays' Sunday start against the Washington Nationals (GameTracker) saw the 26-year-old right-hander continue to struggle, continuing to do so even after his outstanding 2021 and 2022 seasons.

In four innings of work against the below-average Nats' offense, Manoah allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits. While he struck out six, Manoah also permitted four walks and allowed two home runs. Of his 92 pitches, 52 went for strikes. On the upside, Manoah did show improved velocity on his sinker and four-seamer relative to his 2023 levels.

The Nationals would end up winning 11-8.

Manoah performed even better in 2022, placing third in the AL Cy Young voting, after finishing seventh in the American League Rookie of the Year vote in 2021. He has a 2.60 career earned run average going into the 2023 season with a solid management of strikeouts per inning. But ever since, Manoah has virtually collapsed. In his 19 starts from the previous season, he recorded a 1.34 strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 5.87 ERA (72 ERA+). He was relegated to the Florida Complex League by the Blue Jays in June, then a month later, they called him back. Then, in August, for reasons that were never fully revealed, his season ended prematurely.

In addition to all of the above, Manoah's problems during his five-start rehab assignment prior to Sunday's season debut were mostly unsurprising. But with Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodriguez's recent injuries, Manoah will have multiple chances to show that he can live up to the promise of his early years.