This article is excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat Newsletter. To read the full newsletter, go to click here. Subscribe to receive it regularly in your inbox.
Every year, as the new season begins to creep on the horizon, I think back to the first day of spring training.
Players flock to the Blue Jays’ player development facility in Dunedin, Florida, with the same nervous excitement they once felt on the first day of school, only new shoes and backpacks replaced by new Range Rovers and Corvettes. This causes waves of familiar faces to start strolling out of the parking lot…and just as many opportunities to quietly whisper, “Who is that guy?”
At various points in the offseason, I ask myself which questions, or players, I’m most interested in on opening day. Three months ago, it was Alec Manoah.
It’s Alec Manoah after all.
It’s a half-true theory that grows new branches each time after a horrible 2023 season that sent Manoa to the minors twice, but Manoa enters 2024 as the single biggest variable on this roster. Sure, there’s a pitcher here to rebuild, but that pitcher is first and foremost a human being. Manoah’s relationship with the Blue Jays, his teammates and himself are important here. The baseball part can follow this.
Coach John Schneider had been in contact with Manoah during the offseason and had plans to spend time with him in Miami. After watching Schneider over the years and speaking with many of the players he has managed, this feels like an opportunity for Schneider to shine as a leader.
“I don’t think the relationship has changed,” Schneider said. “I understand it’s been a tough time for him and it’s been a tough few weeks and months for Alec. As competitive as he is, it can be frustrating to be pushed down like that. I’m sure that relationship will be strong. That’s something that I want to make sure I don’t lose sight of, even now as I sit here after the season. Especially in your first year, you’re dealing with a lot of things. I think it’s easy. [about] It’s about keeping the relationship with the players at the forefront. ”
So who is Alec Manoah now? Is he the guy with a 2.24 ERA who puffs out his chest as his chain bounces off the Blue Jays logo after a strikeout…or is he the lion with a 5.87 ERA and no roar?
The answer is always hidden somewhere in the middle, but given the strength of their rotation with Kevin Guzman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, and Yusei Kikuchi, the Blue Jays could use Manoa to set the world on fire. does not require. If he can provide reliable back-end innings and keep Toronto from falling into the depths of its rotation (which isn’t strong enough today), that’s a success.
“I think last year was a big learning experience for him,” said Kevin Kiermaier, who played against Manoa during a dominant 2022 season before joining the Blue Jays. “He’s a guy who’s probably never had a hard time in his life. He was great in high school, he was really great at West Virginia, he was really good in the minor leagues, he was really good in the major leagues. Sometimes he gets punched in the mouth and we see how he reacts. I don’t think things went his way, but he had to be professional about a lot of certain things in the process. not.”
One of the biggest differentiating factors for young players is how they deal with failures and challenges on the field. For many top prospects, such failures don’t occur until they’re on the biggest stage. Learning and adjusting against a 19-year-old is a little different than playing against Aaron Judge or Mike Trout.
Kiermaier has felt at times that Manoah’s mental and physical game didn’t always match up, and that would agree with many who saw him pitch in 2023. You could hear the sense of urgency in Kiermaier’s veteran voice for Manoa to do what’s next. We need to understand what this game can do for players, not just go back to what they used to be, even players with talent that other players don’t have.
“He’s going to have a clean slate going into 2024,” Kiermaier said. When he goes into a game, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game. When I see a teammate go through something like that, I always want to remind him and say, “Hey, don’t forget what a terrible guy you are.” You are one of the best people on the planet. ”
Perhaps calling this an “older version of Manoa” is too dismissive. What we saw in 2022 is his most glorious and complete version. It still exists. The only question is how much cooperation both Manoa and the Blue Jays will need behind the scenes.
