Yahoo Sports Blue Jays need Alek Manoah to 'flip the script' on 2023 struggles
Alek Manoah was the Blue Jays' Opening Day starter this season but hasn't been able to repeat the success he found earlier in his career. Toronto manager John Schneider says the big right-hander is still in a good spot mentally but needs to start throwing more strikes.
Video Transcript
- John, with Manoah today, specifically his control, what's going wrong there when he's missing the zone, or then also leaving balls over the middle?
- Yeah. It's uncharacteristic of him, 7 walks. I don't know. I've got to look at it a little bit more closely, if it's mechanical, if it's trying to do a little bit too much with certain pitches, but he needs to flip the script a little bit here and get in the zone.
- And going into his next start here, is this something where he can continue to do what he's doing and find his way? Do you think there's a change that needs to be made? Where do you stand on that?
- I'm not sure. I'll look into it with Pete and kind of go from there in between his starts, and it's been kind of an ongoing process. And like I said before the game today, we've liked some of the trends that we've seen in terms of VELO and stuff. So the execution part of it is what we'll be focused on.
- John, Alec told me yesterday he felt really good about his bullpens. Where is he from a mental point of view on how he's been handling these last few starts that have been up and down and up and down?
- Yeah. So far, he's been good. It goes back to him being a really good competitor, an elite competitor, and I think that when you're scuffling a little bit, you really got to fall back on that. The conversations with him have been good, the work has been good, and I think that he just really needs a good outing to kind of get that-- get his whole game going between executing and kind of the feeling that he has when he is on the mound. But right now, he's good, you know? I think that the work that has been done in between starts has been encouraging, and hopefully they continue to be that way.
