New York Mets starting pitcher Sean Manaea. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

How Mets lefty Sean Manaea turned around his season

By Zack Panariello | Last updated Aug 22, 2024 1:29 PM ET

Shortly after the All-Star break, New York Mets left-hander Sean Manaea knew he needed to make changes.

In his first two starts, the 6-foot-5, 245-pounder went 0-1 with a 6.51 ERA. In his third start, against the Minnesota Twins on July 30, Manaea tossed his best game of the season, throwing seven scoreless innings, surrendering just two hits and one walk and striking out 11.

The big difference-maker is a more simplified approach, with Manaea going mainly with his sinker and sweeper.

Per Baseball Savant, Manaea has thrown his sinker 39 percent of the time this season, but he uses the pitch differently than most pitchers. Many pitchers use a sinker to induce ground balls, throwing it low in the zone, while Manaea tends to throw his higher.

Sean Manaea delivered his longest scoreless outing of the year tonight, blanking the Twins over seven innings.

In terms of Game Score, it matched the third-best outing of Manaea's 187-start career.

His final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, 96 pitches. pic.twitter.com/X4j7wSl2UV
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 31, 2024

As good as Manaea's sinker has been, his sweeper — a pitch with a lot of horizontal movement — is arguably a bigger difference-maker. He said after his start against the Twins that it allows him to keep hitters off balance.

As simple as it seems, the two-pitch mix has seemingly turned the season for Manaea.

In his fourth start after the break, Manaea threw another seven scoreless innings, this time striking out 10 in a 6-0 win against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

After a tough next start against the Mariners, when he allowed three runs in three innings, Manaea bounced back against the Marlins at Citi Field last Friday, throwing seven innings and allowing just three runs on five hits in a 7-3 win.

After another quality start against the Baltimore Orioles, he is 9-5 with a 3.48 earned run average, lower than his career figure of 4.03.

"He’s been huge,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of the 32-year-old, per the New York Post. “He continues to step up.”

With the Mets (66-61) in the thick of a wild-card race with 35 games remaining heading into Friday's play, a reliable Manaea in the rotation could make a huge difference.

Zack Panariello

Zack Panariello is a writer based on Long Island, New York. He has written for WRUF at the University of Florida, and writes primarily about MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and SEC Football. Zack has a Journalism degree with a specialization in sports and media from the University of Florida.

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