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Manoah supremely focused after 'unacceptable' postseason debut

Alek Manoah Toronto Blue Jays Alek Manoah - The Canadian Press
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DUNEDIN, Fla. — It wasn’t the clubhouse moment he was expecting.

Instead of celebrating a win and a series lead in Game 1 last October against the Seattle Mariners, Alek Manoah sat solemnly at his locker, staring at nothing for at least 10 minutes as he tried to figure out how he had his worst start of the year in the biggest moment.

Coming off a regular season that saw him post a sparkling 2.24 ERA and become the talk of Hollywood at the all-star game in Los Angeles with his personality, Manoah gave up three runs in the first inning against the M’s and it was game, set, match from there.

“I replayed the first inning more than any other game I’ve had in my life,” Manoah said Sunday morning at the club’s player development complex. “For me, I feel like I let the team down and that’s unacceptable. To go out there and have the year that I had and then have one of my worst starts in the biggest game of the year, it’s definitely something that’s inside of me and it’s going to fuel the fire this year. There were a lot of things in that game that I can learn from and use it to my advantage this year.”

Manoah leaves room for the obvious follow-up: What did he learn from that rough outing, one that saw him gut out 5.2 innings?

Even though Manoah has always been much more of a pitcher than a thrower despite his size and level of experience, his answer shows a potential next step and evolution as he enters his age-25 season.

Manoah hit 15 batters last year — that number was good for fourth in baseball amongst starters, behind Nick Lodolo (19), Charlie Morton (18) and Kyle Freeland (16) — leaving him at a total of 31 over his first two seasons.

His plunking of M’s star Julio Rodriguez was a game-changer, leading to the first-inning outburst that did the Jays in.

“I think the biggest thing is I’ve led the (American) league in hit-by-pitches two years in a row and I feel like some of that can be used to my advantage and then some of it isn’t to my advantage,” Manoah said. “I hit Julio twice in that game and that’s two runs out of the four. In the playoffs, a hit-by-pitch and they both scored. Things are magnified.”

So what changes?

Manoah’s aggressiveness and desire to pitch inside is what’s made him good.

“You don’t tone down the aggressiveness, it’s just the focus level,” he said. “I had Julio 1-2, I believe, and then I hit him. The focus level was ‘yeah, put him away’ instead of ‘alright, take your breath, get your arm on time, get downhill, get your extension.’ The little focus of making the pitch instead of getting the result. I vividly remember having him 1-2 and just trying to rear back ‘alright, here we go, put him away’ and thinking of the crowd already cheering and all that stuff.

“Next thing you know, you hit him, there’s a blooper over first and then a home run. Completely different ballgame. I think focusing on the little things instead of the big end result will help me.”

From a next-step perspective, it’s very clear where Manoah can improve moving forward.

With an elite three-pitch mix that includes his slider, sinker and four-seam heater, the changeup is the fourth offering that could help him mess with the forthcoming adjustments that AL hitters are sure to make against a pitcher they’ve seen relatively little of still to this point.

Left-handed hitters have been the big righty’s one problem area at times, and finding a new approach against them could unlock even more.

The numbers against lefties weren’t bad last season, but it’s the swinging strike rate and ability to confidently fill up the zone against them that has some wondering if there’s regression coming, pointing to his 3.31 expected ERA from Statcast last year.

“Unless you go out and put up a 0.00 ERA with 31 wins, there’s areas to work on,” Manoah said. “For me, it was how can we maximize all of the pitches, not just the ones that are ones that are really good.”

He also believes the pitch clock is going to become an advantage for him, which makes sense because Manoah’s tempo when he’s rolling is quick.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect me all,” he said. “I think I’m going to use it to my advantage … kind of put the pressure on the hitters for them to be ready quicker.”

Manager John Schneider, a few minutes after talking about his own dramatic moment earlier this month when he performed a Heimlich maneuver on a women choking on a shrimp at a Dunedin pub, he turned his attention back to his horse of a starter and the growth he’s seen from Manoah this spring.

“Confidence is never an issue with him, we all know that, but I think just being a bit more well-versed in his routines, speaking up a little bit more and taking a bit more of a leadership role, which is great,” said Schneider, who was comped a free beer for his heroic moment while dining with his wife. “He’s a big part of what we do.”

What they’re all doing right now — with almost every player reporting earlier than they had to this spring and a clear theme of personal accountability — is get over last October’s heartbreak.

“You don’t fully get over it,” Manoah said. “You continue to learn from it and use it to your advantage and use it as a stepping stone in my career. I’ll get over it when we go clinch a division series and clinch a championship series and get to a World Series and clinch a World Series.”