Alek Manoah was rising as among the finest younger pitchers in baseball once I first talked to him for FanGraphs in April 2022. Pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays on the time, he boasted a report of 12-2 and three.05 ERA throughout 23 begins relationship again to his main league debut the earlier Might. And he was solely getting higher. By season’s finish, the burly right-hander not solely was 25-9 with a 2.60 ERA, however he additionally had allowed simply 221 hits over 308 1/3 innings throughout 51 profession begins. A star within the making at age 24, he completed third in that yr’s American League Cy Younger Award voting.
As Blue Jays followers know all too effectively, issues proceeded to go south. The Homestead, Florida native stumbled by means of a tumultuous 2023 by which his command and velocity dipped, and issues obtained even worse the next yr. Burdened by shoulder and elbow woes, Manoah ended up having surgical procedure to restore his ulnar collateral ligament in June 2024. Restoration wasn’t precisely clean. He tossed simply 38 1/3 innings final season, none of them within the majors.
His once-prosperous Toronto tenure additionally got here to an finish, as did a short stint with one other group. Claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves in late September, Manoah subsequently signed a free-agent cope with the Los Angeles Angels in December. He’s now within the early levels of what is perhaps deemed the Alek Manoah Reclamation Mission.
The preliminary outcomes have been constructive. This previous Sunday, Manoah took the mound towards the Arizona Diamondbacks and tossed two scoreless innings, throwing 25 of his 36 pitches for strikes and permitting only a pair of walks. Furthermore, his four-seam fastball was clocked at 93-94 mph. Final season, it was most frequently within the 89-92 vary, significant ticks under the 93.9 mph he’d averaged in his 2022 All-Star marketing campaign.
I requested the 6-foot-6 hurler about his velocity rebound on Monday at Angels camp.
“I believe it was my getting a full offseason after the TJ rehab, and with the ability to work on some little mechanical changes,” Manoah mentioned. “Proceed to take that on the market over and over.”
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He didn’t go into element about his changes, however he did present overview of the target. He additionally agreed once I acknowledged that getting one’s mechanics absolutely again in sync whereas coming back from Tommy John isn’t all the time straightforward.
“That’s a giant a part of it,” Manoah mentioned. “For one, you play a lot catch all through your rehab, on flat floor, and far of it’s gentle catch. Some inconsistencies can develop from that.
“It was entering into this previous offseason, resetting, having a look at the place we had been at [and] the place we wish to be,” he added. “After which simply reducing some fats off the steak, mainly. Simplifying it a bit. Staying on high of the ball. Entering into offseason long-toss program. Energy program. Getting the physique feeling actually good once more.”
The slider was the 285-pound righty’s high weapon when he was dominating huge league hitters circa 2022, so it got here as little shock when he introduced it up as a pitch-specific focus.
“The largest factor I’ve labored on is the consistency of the slider,” he informed me. “After rehab, that may be the one pitch the place it’s hardest to have that flip-it-in-there-for-a-strike really feel, or to have the ability to flip it in there for a two-strike. For me, it’s about having a number of variations of my slider, which I’ve all the time been use to having. Getting that consistency with the variation has been [a focus]. Engaged on that within the offseason, engaged on that in dwell BPs, in bullpens, all the pieces, right here in spring coaching.”
His changeup is one other story. Monoah feels the pitch has really benefitted from the rehab course of, partially as a result of he threw loads of them throughout lengthy toss. He thinks, or at the very least hopes, that will probably be higher than in current seasons. As for the pitch itself, that hasn’t modified. Elbow well being is the explanation why.
“Identical grip, identical all the pieces,” he mentioned. “I’m not attempting to scare the elbow off once more. Something new… [Dr. Keith] Meister was the one who did my [surgery], and he sees loads of… I imply, Meister can go in your elbow and inform if you happen to’re a changeup man or a slider man. That’s really form of loopy. He talks about how the changeup was a change-of-speed pitch, and now it’s a motion pitch. Throwing it to get motion can change some stuff in your elbow, so I’m not attempting to make it do extra. For me, it’s simply altering the speeds, throwing it out entrance, and persevering with to get extra assured with it.”
The diploma to which Angels followers ought to be assured about Manoah’s probabilities of reemerging as a top quality huge league starter — or even perhaps a rank-and-file huge league starter — is open for debate. One factor is for certain: If the Alek Manoah Reclamation Mission bears fruit, a brand new member of the family shall be cheering him on.
“I’ve obtained a child at residence — 10 months as we speak — and we’re glad and excited to have him within the stands this yr for the primary time,” Manoah mentioned. “We’re in place. Perhaps some day you’ll have the ability to interview him.”
