Braves claim Alek Manoah off waivers

At just 24 years old, Alek Manoah was one of baseball’s brightest young arms in 2022, posting a 2.24 ERA and finishing third in the AL Cy Young race.

But things quickly unraveled the following season. Manoah struggled so badly that the Blue Jays sent him to the Florida Complex League to work on his mechanics, where he allowed 11 earned runs in his first start. He bounced between Triple-A and the majors for the rest of the year, finishing with a 5.87 ERA over 19 starts.

Toronto hoped 2024 would be a bounce-back campaign, but after just five mediocre starts, Manoah was shut down for the year with a torn UCL.

He hasn’t made a major-league appearance this season but did return to the mound in the minors, making seven starts across various levels. The results were mixed: a 3.96 ERA with a 1.526 WHIP — numbers that ultimately made the Blue Jays comfortable designating him for assignment despite two more years of arbitration control.

For the Braves, this is the definition of a no-risk, high-reward move. There’s a real chance Manoah never regains his All-Star form, but if he can rediscover even a fraction of what made him elite in 2022, he could help fill a critical hole in Atlanta’s rotation.