In a rather shocking turn of events, the Toronto Blue Jays sent their ace, Alec Manoah, to the minor leagues on Tuesday afternoon.
He will report to the Jays’ team in the Florida Complex League, a rookie-level circuit.
The decision comes after the right-hander had a disappointing outing against the Houston Astros in which he allowed six earned runs in 0.1 innings.
However, the problem goes beyond his eventual debut.
He had a 6.36 ERA for the season in 58 innings, with an equally awful 6.52 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP).
Last year, he allowed 16 home runs in 196.2 frames, and he’s hit 11 long balls already this season.
Fans weighed in on Jace’s decision via Twitter.
Some people were extremely positive after learning the news:
It will be good for him in the long run. It’s hard to make big adjustments in big companies when you’re struggling so much. He can go down and work on his stuff and build up his confidence without the weight of the team’s success on his shoulders. He will come back better than ever.
— Brando (@BrandoBarrett89) June 6, 2023
Hopefully this will take some pressure off him and he will be able to understand things. He has so much talent, so much drive and seems like a really nice person. Good luck Alik!
— josiebet (@josiebet2) June 6, 2023
Others, however, not so much:
At this exact moment, the Blue Jays made that decision pic.twitter.com/nYd0BTGnUU
— Eduardo (@EduardoAbrams) June 6, 2023
Blue Jays insider Keegan Matheson shared his thoughts on what the Jays might be thinking by sending Manoh to the complex leagues.
It’s easy to call sending Alec Manoh to a complicated league the “Roy Halladay treatment,” but again, those are very different pitchers and situations.
In Dunedin, the Manoh Complex will be able to access the pitching lab and millions of other resources.
This is a complete, total reset.
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) June 6, 2023
Manoh will remain a minor for some time.
He looks totally off, so maybe this is the right move.
Looks like there’s a common sentiment among Jay fans: He needs a reset.
Good call sending him to the complex instead of AAA. he needs time to work it out
— Randeep Randhawa (@RandeepRandhawa) June 6, 2023
Everyone knows Manoh is an asset if he is healthy and his mind and focus are in the right place.
It may take some time, but he probably just needs some time to work on his pitching mechanics.
There’s no reason to think he won’t eventually come back and pitch like he did in 2021 and 2022: a true ace.
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Blue Jays made a shocking decision on Alec Manoh