A slower delivery should fix Manoah’s mechanical issues

Baseball is such an unpredictable game. Just when you think you have it figured out, things get turned upside down. It’s why general managers’ hair turns grey prematurely. Let me give you an example of what I mean. 

The Blue Jays’ pitching staff seemed so predictable at the front end of the rotation with Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt, while there were questions at the back end with Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Berrios.

Kikuchi and Berrios were excellent against the Tampa Bay Rays the last time through the rotation. Berrios threw five innings with four hits, one run, no walks and six strikeouts to earn the win against the previously undefeated Rays. On Saturday, Kikuchi beat the Rays by throwing six innings with four hits, one run allowed with one walk and nine strikeouts. He looked like the guy the Jays thought they were getting when they signed him in March of 2022.

But Manoah, the most predictable of the Jays’ starters last season, got rocked again on Sunday. He threw just 4.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits. He walked four batters and struck out five.

Last season, Manoah didn’t make a single start in which he threw fewer than five innings. This year, he’s thrown five innings or more in only one of his four starts. He currently has a 5.63 ERA. He has allowed 14 hits in 16 innings while giving up 13 walks and striking out 13. Last season, Manoah allowed 2.33 base on balls per nine innings. He is allowing 6.98 walks per nine innings so far this year.

The increase in walks is indicative of mechanical issues on his delivery. The way pitchers consistently throw strikes is to repeat the delivery to the plate with the arm in the same spot each time at the point of release. The legs are the foundation of the delivery. When a pitcher isn’t throwing strikes consistently it’s rarely about his throwing arm and almost always about the bottom half of the body (legs and hips) or the front side of the upper body. 

Manoah has been out of sync with his delivery this season, missing the strike zone to his arm side: up and in to right-handed hitters and away from left-handed hitters. Plus, his slider, which is such an effective put-away pitch, has lacked depth and bite. These are symptoms of a pitcher rushing his delivery.

When a pitcher starts his wind up and drifts towards home plate rather than gathering himself over the pitching rubber, letting his arm get to the proper throwing position, it changes the desired release point. When the body rushes to home plate it causes the throwing arm to drag behind. The only way the arm can try to catch up is to not follow its normal loop. The pitcher has to cut short the normal rotation, which flattens out the life and action of the fastball because the pitcher’s hand ends up on the side of the ball and not on top or behind the ball.  It also cause the slider to helicopter, where it spins sideways without the depth that comes with the fingers on top of the baseball.

The cure is slowing down Manoah’s delivery. He needs to focus on gathering himself over the pitching rubber rather than drifting toward home plate. He needs to get his throwing arm moving sooner to get it to the right spot, so that when he does start his stride to the plate, he can keep his hand on top and behind the baseball. This will allow him to locate his fastball where he wants in the strike zone and to generate the spin he wants on his slider to get the great width and depth he is known for.

When a pitcher is struggling, the game speeds up. It feels like when you are skiing down a mountain and get going too fast. It feels like you are moments from wiping out and you just can’t regain control. This issue is compounded by the pitch clock. 

In the past, a pitcher could walk around the mound and take a few deep breaths and clear his head. Manoah did that quite a bit last year. With runners on base in 2022, he took more than 30 seconds between pitches more than 20 per cent of the time. This year the rules demand that the pitch be thrown in 20 seconds. To his credit, Manoah has not blamed any part of his struggles on the pitch timer, but it isn’t unreasonable to consider it a factor. 

The time between starts is really important for Manoah and pitching coach Pete Walker. It may be that two side sessions would be helpful instead of one. Repetition will be important to help the mechanical adjustments become engrained. What they don’t want to do is to have Manoah thinking about his mechanics on every pitch. He needs to think execution versus process in game situations.

One other thing Manoah might consider is to go back to the catcher calling the pitches with either old-fashioned signs or PitchCom. Recently, Manoah had the PitchCom unit on so he could call the pitches rather than having the catcher do it. Many pitchers have transitioned to this model because of the fear of a pitch clock violation.

But when things are going poorly, one of the things to do is to consider what has changed from last season. The changes in the rules this year affect everyone a bit differently and can impact performance. Reducing discomfort can get a pitcher to get back on track. It may be worth considering in Manoah’s case. 

I spoke to a source in the Jays organization who said there is real confidence that Manoah will get back on track and get on a hot streak. That’s good news because an effective Manoah is critical to Toronto’s playoff pursuit.