One thing that is certain about a 162-game regular season in MLB, there is never a dull week.
The last seven days saw an ace pitcher struggle in a minor league assignment, a struggling pitcher made history, one of the highest payroll teams continued their struggles as time is beginning to run out on the season and a World Series contender continues to make the case to be the best team in the majors.
With that said, let’s fire up the final Stock Up, Stock Down for the month of June.
Stock Down: Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah’s Florida start
One thing that is hard to do in the majors is to have the same success as you had the season before. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah is finding that out the hard way.
After going 16-7 in 2022 with a 2.24 ERA in 31 starts and 180 strikeouts, the 2023 season has been nothing short of a disaster for him. He is 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA and just 48 strikeouts in 58 innings. Earlier this month, Toronto sent him to the Florida Complex League to try and figure things out, but the 25-year-old struggled against 18- and 19-year-old players.
In 2.2 innings, the right-hander allowed 11 earned runs, 10 hits, two walks, and two home runs. That’s not what Manoah and the Blue Jays were hoping for as he was expected to be a front-end of the rotation starter, but he’s been anything but that.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the Blue Jays do next as they are holding down an American League Wild Card spot currently, but need Manoah in the big leagues back to have any shot at postseason success should they get there.