"They don't give out World Series trophies in Triple-A" - Alek Manoah determined to bounce back for Blue Jays following an underwhelming 2023 season

After a challenging 2023 season, Alek Manoah, the right-handed pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, is determined to improve himself and be the “bulldog” the team needs to win the World Series title.

During the 2023 season, his ERA was poor – 5.87 in 19 starts – and his WHIP was second worst in the majors among pitchers – 1.74. However, he has been improving his performance during the off-season and working hard to enhance his skills.

The pitcher had an issue with mechanics last season, which affected his performance against Houston, where he was dropped off the roster and sent to the Jays' pitching lab in Florida for improvement.

“Looking back, I was like, man, ‘What the hell was that?’ I can’t believe that I was thinking that, I was doing that,” Manoah said (via The Athletic). “It’s good to be super far away from that right now. It feels like that was a long time ago. So, I’m going to keep that feeling that it’s a long way back and we’re just going to continue to look forward and moving forward and show up every day just trying to help this team win a World Series.”

Despite these challenges, Manoah remained optimistic and trained hard in the offseason on various aspects, including stretching, mobility, speed, agility, throwing, strengthening and nutrition. He is grateful to his wife, a certified nutritionist, and his brother, Erik, a personal trainer. Now, he is determined and focused on winning the championship for his team.

“Every time I throw a baseball, it’s to help this team win a World Series,” he said. “They don’t give out World Series trophies in Triple A, so I want to be with the team.”

“It was a tough year. It was a tough mental grind, going through all that stuff. Being a guy that you always want your teammates to trust that you’re going to go out there and be a bulldog and, for me, that was the toughest part,” Manoah added. “I’ve done everything I can to be healthy and feel great and I’ll do everything I can to help my teammates this year.”

Alek Manoah expected to have a bounce-back season in 2024

Alek Manoah emphasized the importance of embracing his inner "bulldog" mentality to get back to his 2022 All-Star form. His hard work paid off during his first bullpen session of the spring of 2024 when the Blue Jays manager John Schneider praised him.

“Looking in real-time the delivery was where it should be,” Schneider said (via The Athletic). “His stuff looked correct, movement on his fastball, shape of the slider, all that stuff. And then when you match it up with the numbers, it was right where we should be. He’s 90-92 (mph) in his first bullpen of the year, which is pretty d— good.”

Alek Manoah is preparing for the 2024 MLB season and is focused on staying true to himself and maintaining a strong mindset, regardless of the outcomes on the field.