Manoah (shoulder) bumped from Sunday start

Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah felt soreness in his shoulder during a bullpen session Friday and had to cut it short, the team said via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. He will not make his scheduled start on Sunday. 

Matheson adds that an MRI showed no structural damage and the Blue Jays are taking his recovery day-by-day for now.

Manoah made his spring debut on Wednesday, allowing four earned runs in 1.2 innings against the Detroit Tigers. He stuggled with his control, hitting three batters and throwing just 17 of his 38 pitches for strikes. He also allowed three hits and one walk in the outing.

Despite the ugly line, Manoah was encouraged by his velocity, with a fastball regularly sitting in the mid 90s. 

“I’m not having to think velocity and kind of just feeling that natural flow, and then being able to have pretty good velocity,” Manoah told reporters. “For me, that’s kind of a really good checkpoint. ... That’s a pretty good box to check this early. But, at the same time, not chasing velo, just chasing easier velo, so it was good to kind of be in the mid-90s today naturally.”

The 26-year-old was 3-9 last season with a 5.87 ERA in 87.1 innings spread out over 19 starts, spending much of 2023 in the minor leagues. The season before, Manoah finished third in American League Cy Young voting with a 2.24 ERA.

The Blue Jays will open the regular season on March 28 in Tampa against the Rays.