MANOAH EAGER TO JOIN THE PARTY
Big fireballer sees opportunity as Jays clear out ‘old wave,’ writes Rob Longley.
VANCOUVER Alek Manoah has just emerged from the Canadians’ clubhouse here at the baseball treasure that is Nat Bailey Stadium, and the big kid is a fountain of Blue Jays information.
The hard-throwing pitcher, who the team drafted in the first round of the MLB draft this spring, is well aware of what’s going on with the parent club and can’t wait to be a part of it.
He cites their record in recent games, raves about the young core of rookies lighting it up at the plate, and is hyper enthused at the idea of joining in on the fun.
“This is our time,” declares Manoah, a monster of a 21-yearold with hands almost big enough to grip two baseballs, as we chat outside the dugout of Canada’s only minor pro baseball team. “That’s how I see it. (The Jays) are getting rid of the old wave. They have the hitters now and they’re trying to develop us as pitchers.
“I think trading away Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, I think that’s management saying to us: ‘We picked you for a reason.’”
There are many reasons they picked Manoah.
The strapping six-foot-six, 260-pound right-hander emerged as one of the top NCAA pitchers in 2019. In his junior season with the West Virginia Mountaineers, Manoah was the Big 12 pitcher of the year, finishing with a 2.08 ERA over 16 starts and a fireballing 144 strikeouts in 108.1 innings of work.
The Jays were wooed by his power, but also his maturity and his drive.
And with a solid three-year college career as a base, there’s always the chance Manoah could accelerate quick enough to accentuate the young Toronto roster creating such buzz around baseball.
“Golden arm,” is how Canadians manager Casey Candaele describes Manoah.
“He’s a competitor. He likes to get on the mound and throw and get after people. When you have that and you’re driven to get better, that’s an impressive combination.”
Manoah’s time here in the Northwest League is essentially designed to dip his toes — and that lethal right arm — into the world of professional baseball. The short season A-level loop is a perfect landing spot that way, especially for college draftees with a full NCAA season behind them.
By design, the Jays are strictly limiting him to two innings or so per outing. In his nine innings of work, he’s allowed two runs — none in his first four appearances — while racking up an impressive 14 strikeouts. If all goes well in the off-season and through spring training, this figures to be a launching pad to a higher level of minor ball in 2020.
It’s a great spot to begin throwing for the Jays organization.
The city has an affinity for the
C’s, they fill the park, and it’s an early introduction to the world of loonies and toonies, poutine and ketchup chips.
The sellout crowd was certainly enthused at Manoah’s most recent start on Aug. 8. With his size and strength, the power came as advertised when, for the first time in his career, Manoah lit up the radar with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball.
The fans noticed when “00” flashed on the centre field scoreboard, quaintly constructed with just two digits. If it got Jays fans excited as well, it was with good reason. The previous Canadians pitcher to hit triple digits at the Nat was none other than Nate Pearson in 2017.
“It felt pretty great,” Manoah said. “There’s more to it than throwing hard, and I’m spending a lot of time developing all of my pitches, but it was still pretty cool.”
The fastball is lethal, impressive and such a big part of today’s power pitching world of pro ball, and the Jays are certainly loading up with young arms to fit that prototype. What has impressed Candaele about both Manoah and Pearson (who he managed at single-a Dunedin last season) is that each are committed to being about much more than just raw strength.
“He likes to use all of his pitches,” the former Expo said of Manoah. “You could get caught up in coming here and just trying to blow fastballs past people, but he likes to pitch, too.”
Candaele recalls an example from a recent game in which Manoah struggled through an inning of 20-plus pitches. Mildly frustrated that he’s on a strict pitch count, Manoah wanted to mix sliders and changeups into his attack to get some development work in.
After a between-innings chat with Candaele and pitching coach Demetre Kokoris wondering what was up, Manoah went out and blew fastballs past the opposition in a nine-pitch frame.
“He’s probably going to be a pitcher who will rely on his fastball to be successful, but he likes working on his change-up and his slider has got a good sharp break to it,” Candaele said. “He’s been here developing his stuff and getting used to the pro game.”
So far, anyway, it seems Manoah and the Jays are a good match. The Florida native likes the team’s approach to not pigeonholing him into a set itinerary to get to the bigs.
“A lot of teams, when you get drafted, they have a blueprint for what they want you to follow, of how you are going to develop under them,” Manoah said.
“The Blue Jays are more like, ‘We’re going to make your own routine. It’s not going to be a blueprint. It’s going to be original.’
“Them investing time with their high-performance team and all that they do in player development, that was one of the biggest things for me.”
The Jays have a fair bit invested in Manoah, notably a hefty Us$4.55-million signing bonus after taking him 11th overall in the draft. Manoah can thank a wise move he made as a high school senior for such a bulky first career payday.
The Texas Rangers made an overture to draft him in the fifth round. Manoah felt he needed more time to develop and that college would afford him the ability to maximize his talents.
“I took a bet on myself,” Manoah said. “I knew I wasn’t a fifth-round pick, quite frankly. I knew I was better than that. But my goal wasn’t to get drafted. My goal was to get to the big leagues and stay in the big leagues for a long while.
“I took a chance on myself because I trusted myself. I signed (with the Jays) for a lot more than what I got offered in high school, but it’s not even the money part. I would have been happy with whatever money I got, but if I was drafted then, I probably would have been released by now. I wasn’t ready.
“In college, I had two years where I had a chance to figure myself out as a person and as a player, and learn from the good and the bad. There’s going to be more adversity thrown at me, but I’m ready for it.”