Alek Manoah will undergo surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow on June 17, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (X link via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). Doctors won’t know whether he’ll need to undergo a full Tommy John or the slightly less invasive internal brace procedure, but either surgery will end his 2024 season and sideline him well into next year.
Manoah left his start against the White Sox on May 29 with elbow soreness. His velocity was down early in that appearance and he winced on his final pitch of the evening. TSN’s Scott Mitchell reported shortly thereafter that Manoah was headed for a second opinion — typically an ominous sign that initial evaluation suggested surgery could be necessary.
That’ll unfortunately come to pass, likely costing the former All-Star more than a year of game reps. A former first-round pick and top prospect, Manoah looked the part of a budding ace between 2021-22. Over his first season and a half in the majors, he turned in a 2.60 ERA while punching out almost a quarter of batters faced over 51 starts. Manoah finished third in AL Cy Young balloting during his sophomore campaign thanks to a sterling 2.24 mark in 196 2/3 innings.
The last two seasons have been far more challenging. Manoah couldn’t find his form in 2023. He was tagged for nearly six earned runs per nine over 19 starts, leading the Jays to option him to the minors on two separate occasions. While he’d been searching for a rebound in 2024, health intervened. Manoah was delayed by shoulder soreness in Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He made his season debut on May 5 and was out to a decent start. In five outings, he worked to a 3.70 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate across 24 1/3 innings.
Manoah has between two and three years of major league service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time next offseason and is under team control through 2027. The internal brace surgery typically involves a roughly year-long rehab process. Tommy John procedures usually last 14-16 months. If he requires the latter operation, his ’25 season could be in jeopardy.
Toronto will need to figure out a solution for the fifth rotation spot. They’re fairly well set in the top four with Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt. Righty Bowden Francis occupied the fifth starter role during Manoah’s season-opening IL stint. He was rocked in two starts and quickly moved back to the bullpen. Francis spent around six weeks on the injured list before returning this week. He tossed 3 1/3 innings of four-run ball behind Trevor Richards in a bullpen game.
The Jays used a few Richards-led bullpen games late last summer while Manoah was trying to work through mechanical issues. That doesn’t feel like a sustainable solution for a couple months. Offseason pickup Yariel Rodríguez could step back into the starting five. The Cuban right-hander has been on the IL since April 30 with thoracic spine inflammation. He’s on a rehab stint at Triple-A Buffalo, where he tossed three innings on Wednesday. Rodríguez has started four games in his first season in Canada but has yet to throw more than four innings or surpass 20 batters faced.
Toronto, which sits three games back in the AL Wild Card mix at 30-32, could find itself in the market for starting pitching at the deadline. They’d be joined by upwards of a dozen teams in that regard. If the Jays fall out of the playoff picture, they’d be in position to market one of the top rental arms (Kikuchi). They’re one of the more interesting borderline contenders to follow over the next six weeks.
okbud
How the mighty have fallen
Shadow Banned
Manoah getting surgery on that Mano?
Rsox
Maybe they can fix his control while they’re at it
NoSaint
Good thing they called up Horowitz to offset this. Selling in 5…4…3…
MoneyBallJustWorks
another Atkins failure. was getting offers in the off-season but held on for hope he would turn it around. congrats Ross. hopefully this is just another item brought up in your exit interview
jdgoat
There’s lots to bring up, but this certainly isn’t one of them. They weren’t selling low on multiple years of a former Cy Young contender simply because he had one bad season. It would’ve been much more atrocious of a decision to trade him for pennies on the dollar with the very realistic chance that he bounced back for someone else.
brodie-bruce
@jdgoat
Get out of here with that logic and sound reasoning, this is mlbtr where only idiocracy is allowed.
Blackpink in the area
I don’t think the Jays were wrong for keeping him bit let’s not pretend it didn’t make some sense to trade him. He was a complete wildcard they could have dealt him for something a little more certain.
Dustyslambchops23
Teams are giving certainty for wild cards ?
Blackpink in the area
One deal that was discussed was India for Manoah. Not a for sure type of guy but more reliable than Manoah at that time.
terrymesmer
No. Jays had no MLB-ready starting pitching depth in AAA.
mlb fan
“Another Atkins failure”…It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t with the “entitled to win” crowd. If Atkins had traded Manaoh and he regained his top of rotation form, you’d be bashing Atkins for “selling low” on an “Ace”, right moneyball?..Everybody’s a genius with benefit of hindsight.
Spaced-Cowboy
Historically the Jays have held onto their prospects/players too long. We’re still conditioned to think that FAs don’t want to be here. The days of overpaying for BJ Ryan, Wells, Ryu, and even Springer are behind us.
terrymesmer
A ridiculous analysis.
10centBeerNight
Brutal brutal year for arms
daniel91
Anthony Recker
BaseballBrian
Recker? I barely knew her!
Yankee Clipper
This is…..21 on the year, I think? An incredibly horrible trend for pitching.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Crisis averted with Soto!
Yankee Clipper
I know. What a potential nightmare (or nightmares if you include Cole) we avoided.
This year has a very special feel to it….very unlike the Yankees years of the past 20 years or so.
bestone
As a jays fan, I said that last year, and the year before….i’m not going to think that way anymore…it hurts too much
brodie-bruce
@yc
Tbh I think we keep seeing the rise of tjs because everyone wants to “throw” and max effort and not pitch. If your a bp guy then go max because you have 3 batters and your day is done.
Between year round bb for kids and going 110+ from pitch 1 is killing these pitchers
its_happening
Manoah not a max effort type guy. Spider tack/sticky substance is playing a role as it forces more effort to grip the ball and snap a breaking ball.
MLB will never ban body protection on hitters (which they should). One option that might help pitchers use less force is raise the mound back to 15 inches high, the way it was prior to 1969.
brodie-bruce
@its_happening
He may not be a “max effort” pitcher but how long has he been playing ball and how much before he even got to hs.
Imo I think it’s a combination of things like max effort and playing nothing but baseball as a kid, you know it’s gotten bad when middle schoolers are getting tjs
its_happening
Manoah was every bit as protected as the others.
Everyone thinks this is 100% a pitcher issue. It’s bigger than that. Nobody wants to address the obvious, rampant performance enhancing equipment hitters are allowed to use to crowd the plate. Nobody wants to notice the differences between the baseballs, the ballpark sizes (foul territory especially), and umpiring over the last 40+ years that have all contributed to the mound injuries. We would see a steady decrease in arm injuries and lengthen the health of great pitchers of baseball addressed all of this.
Viveleempireevil
Yes! And where oh where are all of those troglodyte Cash Bashers who delight in taking to these boards and excoriating Brian? Where are they all now? They’ve had their cheap, ridiculous criticisms stuffed right back down their throats. Consider: first he trades away most of their pitching depth for one of the top 3 players in the game; Then he replaces the pitching given up in the Soto deal with Luke Weaver and Cody Poteet and Ian Hamilton and Dennis Santana and Michael Tonkin and on and on. Yes, Matt Blake is truly the Pitcher Whisperer. But the real talent evaluator, the real genius…is Brian Cashman. He took six pitchers that were cast offs from other clubs and he turned them all into contributors. So, take that all you Cashman haters.
Raysasineppswasplanted
Ixactamundo 1968 the year of the pitcher with McClain 30W season, the last pitcher to do it and there’s never going to be another for sure, 56 yrs ago and Gibson sub 1.50 ERA…
its_happening
If it decreased injuries I’d take that change Raysa
bestone
Just wondering…they say 2019 was the year for the “juiced” ball….i wonder if there’s something funky with the current ball that requires more effort to throw it…thus wiping out pitcher’s arms….
NoSaint
@bestone
Slider usage is up this year as well…
AngelsFan1968
And pitchers chasing spin rate…
bullred
That is what I think is the problem. I think they have changed the size or weight of the ball slightly to make it harder on the pitchers to try to get more offence in the game as usual and not realizing that it will blow out arms.
mrmackey
Manoahpause can be crippling,
BirdieMan
No surprise here
Johnny utah
another one bites the dust
but dont blame the clock or manfred or the rules or that pitchers are throwing harder and faster
its just a coincidence that 80% of them are going down with TJ or similar
its just bad timing. bad luck. JUST A COINCIDENCE
DanielDannyDano
Manoah is done and is having surgery, Horwitz has been called up, Cavan has been DFAed. Bo Bichette will be a Dodger by the end of the month.
SportsFan0000
‘She pitched outstanding’: Oakland Ballers’ Kelsie Whitmore becomes first woman to start Pioneer League game
Whitmore allowed 2 earned runs over 3 innings with a strikeout to open the game
twitter.com/justdelossantos/status/179889253368015…
its_happening
Oakland fans no-show the women’s team like they do the A’s?
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Wow manoah was such a kind memorable guy that took care of his body and was clean cut and a locker room leader
LouWhitakerHOF
With a career ERA of 3.34
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Let’s not talk about 2023-24
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Bidenbros… it’s joever
AppleBottomChrist
Only President in the HOF for MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL. Dude can’t miss, even when he dies it’s just joevertime and he keeps chugging along.
Gyo01
dorks…
RShore05
Let’s Go Brandon!
Scrap Iron
Another day, another TJ surgery victim. To those who say that the pitch clock has nothing to do with it, I say you’re insane. Many of the latest victims are not power pitchers with high velocity. The pitch clock absolutely has an impact. How much? That’s harder to quantify, but to say it doesn’t is insanity.
Go Go Power Rangers
Just because they don’t throw 100mph doesn’t mean they aren’t on similar regimens as those who do. Or using less effort. I agree that the pitch clock doesn’t help but neither does throwing 100% (not 100mph) every time with max RPMs. I think the latter is more likely to blame than the pitch clock.
bullred
If you listen to Manoah during his allstar game appearance he is definitely max effort. He struggled to hit 93 let alone 95
ArianaGrandSlam
No worries Manoah, it’s just a little bump on the road to HOF…. janitor.
Old York
Thoughts and prayers that he survives the surgery.
CTS4
Hey shatkins, where are the “Waves” of talent coming up from the minors ???
In 2015 the O’s started their rebuild, same year shapiro and useless atkins arrived in Toronto,. Look at the O’s now, and look at the Jays now…
shapiro and atkins failed miserably….Time to FIRE the Cleveland Clowns ….!! !!
longtimefan
Exactly Shatkins have had a long leash and there is no farm team to solve our issues . If not a complete rebuild it certainly will take next GM a few years to fix as nothing to work with .
terrymesmer
Orioles tanked hard for four years, got a ton of top picks. Rogers did not allow a rebuild, they wanted to sell tickers. Blame ownership, not Atkins.
its_happening
Yep can’t blame the front office or scouting department on the Stroman trade, the draft picks, the nonsense “let’s teach them 3 positions while they can’t hit” development in the minors, always having a hole on the field while in-contention. Atkins is executive of the year material.
Both can take blame and both can be true.
longtimefan
Rogers gave them huge resources to spend on team and facilities . Every GM would be thrilled with that support . Shatkins just didn’t develop it well as they had to rely on free agents. They talk a good game but can’t execute on development a sustainable farm system with new players coming in to augment the team . They can’t let him manage this upcoming sell off
its_happening
Rogers has hired only small market since day 1. Oakland, Montreal, Cleveland. They spend to cover the glaring holes their drafting and lack of development. This has been ongoing for nearly 25 years. Aside from one trade deadline for Anthopoulos, Rogers has not been successful at hiring top performers.
Dumpster Divin Theo
Mano-uh-oh