BLUE JAYS GROOMING ANOTHER FIREBALLER

Big Alek Manoah doesn’t pretend to have it all figured out just yet, but the Toronto Blue Jays’ hard-throwing first-round draft pick from 2019 has a good idea of where he wants to be.

And for that, the University of West Virginia product looks to some of the other pitchers in the organization who possess the same sizzling stuff on the mound.

At 22, Manoah isn’t your typical rookie, either. He understands that the allure of his 100-mile-per-hour fastball is one thing, but the finesse part of his arsenal is what will accelerate his path to the major leagues.

“Pitching is a craft,” Manoah said on Tuesday at the Jays’ training complex, where the club’s minor leaguers from all levels are heavy into their own spring training. “You don’t want to just be a guy who goes out there and throws as hard as he can. Throwing hard gets you signed. Having a craft and locating pitches keeps you signed. (The Jays organization) have a bunch of flame-throwers who can throw strikes. That’s the most impressive part.”

At six foot six and 260 pounds, Manoah is in the mould of supersized starting pitchers the Jays have drafted, and like the most promising of them all, Nate Pearson, has hit triple digits on the gun. The Jays’ fourth-ranked prospect is just settling into his first pro camp and essentially loving every minute of it.

After getting a taste of the organization during a summer stint with the Vancouver Canadians, it’s most likely he’ll begin the 2020 season in A ball with the Dunedin Blue Jays. How far and fast he advances will depend on his health and performance.

“I’m not really worried about the process of moving up. They pay the front office guys to worry about that,” Manoah said. “My biggest goal this year is to go out there and be a horse and eat up innings, be a guy who can handle the workload and be durable.

“I just want to throw a bunch of innings, get a bunch of outs, and be a consistent starter every week.”

Manoah spent the winter decompressing from a crazy workload over 18 months that saw him pitch in the Cape Cod League, NCAA and the Pacific Coast League, home of the Canadians.

“My first camp in general is extremely exciting,” said Manoah, who spent part of the winter in West Virginia as he works to complete his degree. “Meeting everybody in the organization, competing with guys who are levels above you, guys out there grinding and striving for the same thing to get to the next level ... it’s all great. Big-league camp, minor-league camp, it doesn’t matter. I’m just excited to play baseball.”

GAME ON

An interesting test awaited the Jays over in Tampa, where they faced Gerrit Cole for the first time as a New York Yankee and walked away with a 4-2 win at George Steinbrenner Field.

Some notes:

An opposite-field single off Cole from Vlad Guerrero Jr. in the first inning gave the Jays a 1-0. It was a solid piece of hitting.

Cole was as stingy as you would expect, retiring the final seven Jays hitters he faced and striking out six in his 3.1 innings of work.

Jays starter Tanner Roark was at his crafty best, going four innings, allowing just one hit and one run with four strikeouts.

With the win, the Jays improved to 10-6-2. The winning blow was a two-run homer from Santiago Espinal in the top of the ninth.