DUNEDIN, Fla. -- There’s a Hollywood script laid out in Dunedin this spring waiting for Alek Manoah to step in and play the leading man.
The Blue Jays need a hero. They need a feel-good story, a comeback story, something that launches this organization out of the orbit it’s been stuck in for four years, always flirting with postseason success but never grasping it.
One year ago today, Manoah felt like that star. He was coming off a third-place finish in AL Cy Young Award voting and had all the makings of an ace, then it all fell apart. Manoah’s downfall in 2023 was slow, agonizing and complicated. There’s more than just a pitcher to repair here, there’s a human being and a relationship between that young man and the organization. Spring Training brings hope along with it, though, and as pitchers and catchers reported to the Blue Jays’ complex on Thursday, Manoah looked different.
He’s worked on his body, grown out his hair and wears a full beard now, a former Oscar nominee coming back with a new look and hoping to land the role that relaunches their career.
“When you get your butt kicked, you want to start a new year with a fresh slate,” Manoah said. “I’m just super excited for the boys this year, and I’m super excited to get after it, to help this year.”
That’s a fine bar to set for now: helping.
Manoah needs to be part of this team’s success, but also part of its identity. Something feels different about this team when Manoah is stomping off the mound, pounding the logo on the front of his jersey while his chains bounce off his chest.
His teammates feel this, but what Manoah’s gone through these past 18 months is so unique to him. Staff ace Kevin Gausman knows how it feels to fail in the big leagues, often cracking jokes about how a younger, “hot-head” version of himself didn’t exactly hit the ground running as a top prospect, but few can understand these jarring peaks and valleys Manoah has experienced.
“Even just getting sent down, that was a pretty foreign thing in his mind,” Gausman said, “so I was explaining to him that this is just the reality. It doesn’t mean anything. When you’re young and have had so much success so early in your career, that’s hard to understand. I really can’t relate to that because I was pretty rocky for my first couple of years, so I didn’t have success right out of the gate like he did. I’m sure it was even harder for him, but he’s a great person and a great human being. We’re all looking forward to him getting back to being him.”
This won’t be a quick fix for Manoah, but Thursday was a fine first step. He passed the Day 1 eye test as he climbed the mound for a bullpen session. His personality is there, too, quickly deflecting a question about his fitness to tell a pair of reporters that they, too, are looking good on the first day of camp.
Manager John Schneider met with Manoah in December in Miami and he, along with pitching coach Pete Walker, have stayed in touch with him throughout the offseason. Schneider’s been impressed, and while all of this must come with the asterisk of it being very, very early, Manoah’s manager likes what he sees.
“Every sign that he’s showing right now up on the mound has been pretty much nails,” Schneider said.
It’s baseball speak for a compliment, not Manoah’s new manicure, and the big man needs to keep stacking those on top of one another.
“In talking to him, just his mindset, his confidence and his conviction, his focus on the team and his focus on his teammates, plus the work that he’s put in, is all very exciting," said general manager Ross Atkins. "All of our looks, watching him throw live and reading the information that’s going into our tools is all very exciting.”
That’s what has made the past year so frustrating. The tools are there. The will to be great is there, right next to a confidence that felt unmatched until it suddenly wavered.
Today, Manoah is competing for a job in the Blue Jays’ rotation, working to hold off the likes of Bowden Francis, Ricky Tiedemann, Mitch White and Yariel Rodríguez. Once he reclaims a job that once looked like it would be his forever, that’s when Manoah can start to write the comeback he’s so well positioned for. There’s no bigger story in camp and no bigger variable to the Blue Jays’ success in 2024.