Alek Manoah Appreciation Thread

I figured we needed an Alek Manoah Appreciation Thread.

Last night’s game was terrific. Alek’s second eight-inning game of the season. His Game Score was 76, tied for his second-best Game Score of the season. He had a 77 on April 28th, a 7-inning start against the Red Sox, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.

He had another 76 in a game against the Orioles on June 13th, a 6-inning start, 1 hit, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.

With a little less than a month to go in the season, here is where Alek’s season sits among the best Jays seasons of all time at the moment:

• bWAR: 36th, 4.6
• ERA: 2nd, 2.42 (Roger Clemens 2.05 in 1997 is likely out of reach, but he had some help)
• Wins: Tied 38th, 14 (3 more wins would get him to a tie for 13th).
• Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched: 1st, .994.
• Hits per 9 innings: 5th, 6.789.
• Walks per 9 innings: 21st, 2.158 (Kevin Gausman’s 2022 season is 7th on the list).
• Strikeouts per 9 innings: 12th, 8.316.
• Strikeouts: 41st, 158 (if he gets 20 more, he’d be tied for 14th).

His 14 hit batters are tied for 4th most (last year’s 16 is tied for most in team history).

His career 7.3 bWAR puts him 28th on our all-time list after just two seasons, and last year’s season was shortened.

Alek is a lot of fun to watch. He throws strikes. Lots of strikes. He doesn’t seem to be afraid of contact (well, he doesn’t seem afraid of anything). He’s willing to pitch inside. He seems to get stronger as the game goes on. Yesterday his hardest pitch was 96.5 MPH, which came in the sixth inning. Earlier in the game, he was in the 92-93 range.

Alek seems to save his best for the big games. He rarely gets rattled. There is the line that he ‘wants the ball in the big games’ (I tend to think all pitchers want the ball in the big games), but he seems to be able to control his emotions in big games. It will be interesting to see if there is another gear for playoff games.

He doesn’t exactly look like an athlete. My wife came into the room yesterday and said he didn’t look like a runner or anything. But then that’s the nice thing about baseball. You don’t have to be an athlete. You can just be a ball player. Baseball Reference lists him at 6’6” and 285, so perhaps he could have been on the offensive line for an NFL team.

I’m expecting, sooner or later, he’ll get that complete game that we keep waiting for. A generation ago, he would have led the league in complete games.

Use the thread to share your appreciation for Manoah.