Well, that went better than last time.
On Friday evening, Alek Manoah toed the bump for his third rehab start, and actually pitched quite well.
If you can recall, he was lit up with the Dunedin Blue Jays, where he gave up six earned runs, four walks and five hits, while striking out just two batters in an inning and two thirds pitched. In his first start with the Buffalo Bisons, he gave up four earned runs, eight hits, but struck out four batters in 3.1 innings pitched.
It looked like it’d be a repeat of the past two games, as Manoah struck out a batter, generated a flyout, before a Kyle Manzardo single. The next batter he faced, Johnathan Rodríguez, hit a home run to give the Columbus Clippers a 2-0 lead.
However, Manoah settled down after this, allowing just four more hits (three of which were doubles) until he was pulled. Overall, he finished with a line of 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K with the home run given up, by far his best start of the season.
Diving deeper into the numbers, Manoah averaged 93.4 mph on his four-seam fastball, maxing out at 95.8 mph. His two-seamer averaged 93.6 mph and maxed out at 95.3 mph. Both pitches were above his yearly average from a season ago, with the two-seam velocity being a full mph harder than last year.
In terms of whiffs, the slider (the video below), generated the most whiffs and the highest whiff %, as he generated four of them on 16 total swings. The four-seamer was the only other pitch that generated a whiff, as he had three of them on 13 total swings. In total, Manoah finished with seven whiffs on 40 total swings for an 18 whiff%.
What’s next for Manoah is yet to be determined. There are a ton of variables, including how Yariel Rodríguez and Bowden Francis do on the main roster. Moreover, if the Jays don’t like where Manoah is at, he still has two option years available.
Either way, this is an encouraging sign for the Jays, as at this point, the results matter in this rehab assignment as much as the process. Hopefully at the next start he’ll be even better.
me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
More must-reads: