Alek Manoah's Stats, Metrics, Game Logs, Projections & Rankings

Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah is testing out a new cutter this spring as he looks to bounce back from an extremely difficult 2023 season. The 26-year-old worked to a 5.87 ERA and a bloated 14.2% BB% across 19 starts in the big leagues last season after finishing third in AL Cy Young voting in the 2022 season thanks to a 2.24 ERA across 31 starts. Manoah spent time at the team's spring training facility a season ago to get back on track but also refused to report to Triple-A Buffalo after an unsuccessful return to the big leagues. Manoah has previously featured a four-seam fastball, a sinker, a changeup, and a slider to this point as his cutter could be another avenue for him to get back on track in 2024. His fantasy value has obviously taken a major hit after the 2023 campaign.

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that right-hander Alek Manoah's delivery "is in a really good spot right now" and "his mental state of mind is right where it should be." In addition, he appears to have trimmed down his body since the end of what was a nightmarish 2023 season for him. In addition to terrible results that caused the Blue Jays to demote him to the minors twice, Manoah dealt with shoulder and mental issues last season. He appears to be fully healthy now, though, and ready to bounce back with another shot at a rotation spot in Toronto in the big leagues. The former first-rounder will be worth a gamble at a lower cost in fantasy drafts after he was a first-time All-Star in 2022 and finished third in the American League Cy Young voting.

The fifth spot in the Toronto Blue Jays' starting rotation behind Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi will be a competition between Alek Manoah, Bowden Francis and potentially Cuban right-hander Yariel Rodriguez, but MLB's Keegan Matheson thinks that Manoah still has the inside track on the job. The 26-year-old Manoah dealt with a shoulder injury and has a nightmarish 2023 campaign just a year after making his first All-Star team. He was demoted to the minors two different times and ultimately finished with a 5.87 ERA (6.01 FIP), a 1.74 WHIP, 59 walks and 79 strikeouts in 87 1/3 big-league innings over 19 starts. If he's fully healthy this spring and shows better results, Manoah's fantasy value should slowly start to tick back up as a potential low-cost value play.

Teams have asked the Toronto Blue Jays about right-hander Alek Manoah's availability via trade, but sources say that the Blue Jays are telling clubs they have no plans to move him. Manoah has had a very good offseason of workouts and is fully expected to be in the team's starting rotation to begin the year after struggling and being demoted to the minors twice in 2023. The 26-year-old was also dealing with some arm issues last season, which hopefully explains most of his problems just a year removed from an All-Star campaign. The former first-rounder will come at a discount in fantasy drafts this spring, and managers that take a shot on Manoah will be hoping he can return to his dominant form in 2022, when he had a 2.24 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and a career-high 180 strikeouts in 31 starts.