Alek Manoah didn’t throw a pitch for the Toronto Blue Jays last season, but still had a major part in the team’s success. That is, at least, according to himself.
The 2022 All Star appeared to be a big piece of the Jays’ future before falling off the face of the earth during a disastrous 2023 season. Since then, both injuries and inconsistent play have derailed his efforts to get his career back on track.
Despite his years of struggles, the Blue Jays were still hopeful Manoah could turn things around. They assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo in hopes he would regain his star form, before surprisingly releasing him from the team’s 40-man roster in September, thus marking the end of his Blue Jays tenure.
Manoah, who signed a one-year deal with the LA Angels this offseason, opened up about what it was like to watch the Blue Jays go to the World Series. The 28-year-old made it clear he had no issue at all rooting for his former teammates, as he felt he was a big piece of the puzzle behind their success.
“I was a very big piece of that process, getting to that World Series run,” Manoah said to Sam Blum of The Athletic. “I wasn’t able to be there like I wanted to.”
As good as Manoah was in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons for the Blue Jays, there were plenty who questioned that particular comment, given that he pitched just 24.1 innings for the club since the start of 2024.
“Sounds like the kid who takes credit for a school group project even [though] he did absolutely nothing to help,” one user wrote on X.
As for the current Manoah, he appears to be making strides in his goal of becoming a reliable starting pitcher again. He pitched two scoreless innings for the Angels on Sunday, while his fastball was clocked between 93-94 mph. That’s a great sign for the right-hander, and a marked improvement over the 89-92 mph range he was registering in 2025.
Lead photo by
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images