By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher and former Mountaineer Alek Manoah is nearing a rehab assignment with the organization.
The report comes from CBS Sports, which indicated that on July 1, Manoah started to throw against live batters in a two inning simulated performance.
Manoah has touched 95-96 in his live simulated performances as well.
Manoah was placed on the 60-day IL due to elbow issues back on March 17. The report from CBS Sports indicates that Manoah is meeting the timeframe to be activated off of the 60-day IL by early August.
Manoah was an American League All-Star in 2022 where he went 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA over 196.2 innings of work and struck out 180 while walking just 51.
However, since that stellar season, Manoah has went 3-9 in 2023 and 1-2 in 2024 with a combined ERA of 5.42 over 24 starts. That’s quite the drop off from the 2022 All-Star campaign.
Manoah likely won’t jump back into the rotation in 2025, but if he’s healthy and performs well in all of his rehab assignments, he could make the push for the rotation in 2026.
Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
