“It’s a frustrating start.”
Canada’s Toronto Star criticized the sluggish performance of Alec Manoa (25, Toronto Blue Jays) as above. Manoa became a losing pitcher in an away game against the Philadelphia Phillies on the 10th (hereinafter Korean time) with 4 hits (1 home run), 1 strikeout, 4 walks and 3 runs in 4⅔ innings.
4.83 ERA in 8 games this season with 1 win and 3 losses. 0.265 batting average and 1.66 WHIP. After being reborn as a Toronto ace in the 2022 season, hoping for Ryu Hyun-jin, the momentum to finish third in the American League Cy Young voting has completely disappeared. In 31 games in 2022, 16-7 with an ERA of 2.24, a batting average of 0.202, and a WHIP of 0.99 feel like a mirage.
Manoa throws메이저놀이터 a ball in the mid-90s, but his strikeout ability wasn’t top-notch last year either. However, there was an aura that overwhelms batters through the improvement of the perfection of breaking balls such as sophisticated commands and changeups. My pitching is definitely uneasy this season. He had 66 walks in 196⅔ innings last year, and has already recorded 29 walks in 41 innings this season.
He put out runners out in the first or second inning, but narrowly pitched scoreless. He had a three-way foul in the third inning, but after walking leadoff batter Bryce Harper in the fourth inning, he used a slider to Nick Castellanos and was hit with a come-from-behind two-run four.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, he gave up a walk against lead batter Brandon Marsh for violating the pitch clock on a full count. This was the reason for the extra point. After two outs, after being hit with a heavy hit by Trey Turner, the second baseman threw an error and allowed an extra run.
Most indicators have deteriorated. According to Baseball Savant, Manoa’s hard hit percentage increased from 31.5% last year to 42.3% this year. The barrel hitting percentage also rose from 5.4% last year to 8.5% this year. In simple terms, the walk rate has almost doubled from 6.5% last year to 13.1% this year.
Of course, the hit rate for each type of pitch went up, and the swing-and-miss rate fell. In the case of the changeup, which was used well last year, the hit rate has changed from 0.145 to 0.300. Retirement value also declined. Last year’s four-seam pitch value was -18, but this year it is only -1.
If this trend continues, there is no choice but to interpret last year’s performance as ‘sparkle’. Toronto believed that Manoa would be the first starter, but in reality, he has the worst performance among the starting pitchers. The Toronto Star said, “Manoa is not the pitcher we saw.”