Blue Jays promote Manoah to double-A New Hampshire, jump past Vancouver
Alek Manoah moves up to double-A.
The Toronto Blue Jays pitcher will start for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Sunday as he works to rediscover his pitching form. Manoah will face the Portland Sea Dogs, the double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox in Maine.
“You play under the lights and have people announce the batters coming up and you have a real bat boy instead of a player running to get the bats,” said Schneider. “I think it’s just the logical next best thing for him.”
The Blue Jays sent the struggling right-hander to the minors on June 6 after he was unable to get out of the first inning against the Houston Astros.
It was a stark contrast to his first two seasons in the major leagues.
But this season, he went 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA in Toronto before being demoted to the minors to focus on his pitch and throwing strikes.
Schneider said pitching at the double-A level will give the Blue Jays a better sense of how far Manoah has progressed since being relegated.
“I think [double A] just gives him and us a better idea of where everything is,” Schneider said.
Manoah will skip Toronto’s single-A and high-A affiliates in the Dunedin Blue Jays and Vancouver Canadians, where he made his pro debut in 2019.
Manoah looked shaky during a Florida Complex League appearance on June 26.
The 25-year-old pitched for the FCL Blue Jays against the Yankees at the minor-league complex in New York and gave up 11 runs on 10 hits, including two home runs, and two walks against a lineup that consisted mostly of teenagers aged 17 to 19. age.
Both the FCL and double A have pitch clocks, the latter being shorter than the allotted time for pitchers in MLB.
Hatch has not allowed a run more than 3 2/3 innings for Toronto this season, striking out eight in relief.
Thornton pitched a 1.69 ERA over 5 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. He was tagged for a point in the Blue Jays’ 5-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
