John Schneider hints at Alek Manoah's potential minor league stint: "Going through a little bit of a tough time"

Despite his lack of form, Blue Jays ace pitcher Alek Manoah seems to have his management's support. His club manager John Schneider hinted on the possibility of the 23-year-old being sent to the minor leagues to regain some form.

Manoah was highly impressive last season as the leading pitcher for the Blue Jays. The 25-year-old has been with the franchise since 2021 after getting picked as the 11th overall draft pick in the MLB draft. In 2022, he was in contention for the Cy Young Award, finishing third, behind Justin Verlander and Dylan Cease.

However, this season has turned out to be completely opposite for the right-handed pitcher. Manoah has a 1-7 record from the 13 games he has started for the Blue Jays. He has an ERA of 6.36 and has struck out only 48 batters.

When asked about the possibility of spending some time in the minor leagues, Schneider said that the franchise looks to back its players at all times and that there isn't any plan to drop Manoah from the rotation:

"We'll see. I mean, we haven't brought it up. Again, we're talking about a really good pitcher who's going through a little bit of a tough time.

"The cool thing about, I think, this team and organization is we're willing to do anything that we feel like we need to do to help you, and players understand that too. So, but as of now, no," John Schneider said.

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Alek Manoah's horror outing in recent start against Astros

Alek Manoah was definitely one of the early season contenders to win the Cy Young award. However, all that seems to have faded.

In his recent start against the Houston Astros, Manoah gave away six runs on seven hits in the very first inning and had to be removed from the mound. Toronto ended up losing 11-4 to the defending champions.