We always get excited about big-time prospects getting the call for the first time, and they don't often live up to the hype in that first start. In fact, lately, it seems like rookies have been a bit less impressive on the whole than in recent years. Nobody told Alek Manoah that's how it's supposed to be.
Manoah made his debut for the Blue Jays on Thursday after just nine professional starts, but he sure didn't look raw in mowing down the Yankees. He threw 88 pitches over six innings of work, allowing just two singles and two walks while striking out seven. And he displayed an unusually deep repertoire for a player with so little experience.
OK, it was only four pitches -- four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, and changeup -- but it was the quality of each pitch that stood out. Manoah, who stands 6-foot-6, got excellent results from his four-seamer especially, picking up six whiffs on 14 swings with the pitch, which he primarily threw in the mid-90s, up in the zone and with a ton of spin -- a good combination for whiffs.
But we expect young pitchers to have good fastballs these days. His secondary pitchers were also pretty exceptional, too. Though he only got two swinging strikes on 26 of those, you can clearly see how much trouble that pitch is going to give right-handed hitters when you see this one, courtesy of Nick Pollack from PitcherList.com:
That's everything you want from a slider coming off a good fastball. He paints the corner of the zone with it, putting Judge into an unenviable position: Offer at a pitch falling off the plate or let it go by for a strike. He didn't get many whiffs, but he sported a solid 31% caught-plus-swinging strike rate with the pitch and allowed an average exit velocity of just 77.9 mph. Pretty strong stuff.
The changeup was expected to be the lesser of the two secondaries, and he threw half as many of them in his debut as he did sliders, though with the Yankees pretty middling group of left-handed hitters, maybe he just didn't need them as much. Here's what that changeup did to Gleyber Torres, again from PitcherList:
Manoah doesn't suddenly rank among the aces in the game, but he looked every bit the part of a future ace in his debut. The short-handed Yankees aren't exactly the toughest possible matchup, but he came armed with four pitches he was comfortable throwing in multiple counts and showed command with all four of them. In fact, maybe the most impressive thing was that he used them all in the first inning. That suggests a ton of confidence.
He also threw 88 pitches, a pretty solid number in a season when rookie pitchers are averaging fewer than 75 pitches per start across their first three. If Manoah is available in any leagues, he shouldn't be. Make sure you're the one who can add him.
Here's who else we're looking at on waivers heading into the weekend:
- We talk Manoah, Dylan Cease, Lucas Sims and two-start pitchers for Week 10 on the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast. You can follow us to get the latest episodes on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks for signing up!
Keep an eye on your inbox.
Sorry!
There was an error processing your subscription.
"wire" - Google News
May 28, 2021 at 08:36PM
https://ift.tt/34nVDXj
Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Alek Manoah shows it all in dominant debut - CBS Sports
"wire" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YtvSDd
https://ift.tt/2VUOqKG
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Alek Manoah shows it all in dominant debut - CBS Sports"
Post a Comment