When the Toronto Blue Jays took Alek Manoah in the 1st-round of the 2019 MLB Draft, it was seen as a bit of a project. The 6-foot-6 righty only began pitching a few seasons earlier going into his season high school season which earned him a late scholarship to West Virginia.
Manoah had the effortless velocity right away as he leverages his body well to create a strong, whipping three-quarters release, however he had to learn how to actually pitch.
After some training, Manoah was sitting in the mid-90’s with his fastball, but the breaking stuff was missing. The youngster decided to scour the internet and stumbled upon some clips from Pitching Ninja on Twitter that led to him discovering a slider.
The slider was on full display in Manoah’s debut start Thursday afternoon in Bronx, NY.
Manoah was able to keep Yankees batters on their toes all afternoon by mixing in his sweeping slider to follow up on his fastball that averaged 94.9 MPH. Batters could not get a read on Manoah’s slider as he is able to use it in a variety of ways. Above he uses it in a large sweep away action, but below he manipulates the pitch to deliver more of a diving action.
The confusion of batters led to Manoah fanning seven while navigating six innings without too much worry. A first inning strikeout of Rougned Odor and Aaron Judge let Manoah know he was right where he belonged.
“I walked DJ (LeMahieu) on the first four pitches in that AB and it was from there ‘Hey let’s lock it in right here and right now and let’s start attacking,'” Manoah told Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae after the game. “I think I was able to do that.”
Even better to see than Manoah’s strikeouts was the love he has for his family and friends, but most importantly his mother. Over 40 member’s of Manoah’s friends and family made the trip up to New York to see his debut and they made their presence known!
When asked if he looked up to see his family during the outing, Manoah was visibly choked up as he recalled the sacrifices that those around him have made for him to reach his dream.
“I heard them a ton. They keep me going man. That’s who I do it for,” Manoah said with watery eyes.
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