Blue Jays opt for two pitchers on Day 1 of Draft
Toronto 'confident' in No. 11 pick Manoah's stuff
Alexis Brudnicki
TORONTO -- Alek Manoah showed the Blue Jays everything they wanted to see this year and more.
Toronto has followed the 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-hander since his playing days at South Dade Senior High School in Miami, but it was Manoah¡¯s success in the Cape Cod League last summer and in the rotation as a junior at West Virginia this spring that made him the Blue Jays¡¯ first pick in the Draft, and the 11th player off the board.
¡°Last year at West Virginia he had some experience both in the rotation and out of the ¡®pen, built on his success -- which really started over the summer this year in the Cape Cod League with Chatham -- and carried it over really nicely into the spring season,¡± said Steve Sanders, Toronto¡¯s director of amateur scouting. ¡°Really sort of rounded out his game, we feel.
¡°We¡¯re excited about the pitch mix that Alek brings to the table -- three pitches, power stuff, a lot of strikes -- and confident that he¡¯s got all the ingredients to be a key cog in a Major League rotation.¡±
Manoah¡¯s repertoire features a power fastball and a hard slider, along with a changeup that he didn¡¯t use much throughout the 2019 season with the Mountaineers -- with whom he went 9-4 with a 2.08 ERA in 108 1/3 innings over 16 starts, with 27 walks and 144 strikeouts -- but is a pitch that the Blue Jays are impressed by.
¡°Alek¡¯s got a really good feel for his changeup, [he] doesn¡¯t use it quite as much as the slider,¡± Sanders said. ¡°This year we saw primarily a two-pitch attack with his fastball and his slider, but he did mix the change in occasionally and it¡¯s a really effective third pitch.
¡°We really love what Alek brings to the table in his now stuff but do see room for him to continue to develop and to continue to improve. He¡¯s got a really well-rounded three-pitch mix that¡¯s going to play at the next level.¡±
While the 21-year-old¡¯s size would put him among a small class of Major League starters who have had success with similar heights and weights -- Michael Pineda, Justin Masterson and CC Sabathia are a few comparable players -- the Blue Jays are confident in Manoah¡¯s ability to remain in the rotation.
¡°Alek¡¯s really done a nice job with maintaining his body and his conditioning and strength,¡± Sanders said. ¡°He¡¯s a really good athlete, especially for a bigger guy. He fields his position well. He simplified his delivery this year a little bit [pitching out of the stretch] and that obviously helped him repeat, which we felt helped with the improved command and control, not just of his fastball but of his secondary pitches.
¡°We certainly expect all of those things to be factors moving forward, but the combination of his stuff, his athleticism, his feel to pitch, his command and his makeup, we¡¯re really confident in who he is as a person and the work he puts in on and off the field to reach his ceiling as a Major League starter.¡±
The slot value for Manoah¡¯s spot in the Draft is $4,547,500, a significant portion of the Blue Jays¡¯ entire bonus pool, which sits at $8,463,300 for all their picks. The area scout who saw Manoah the most this year was Coulson Barbiche, and Toronto¡¯s regional crosschecker on the young righty was Michael Youngberg.
With their second pick in the Draft, the 52nd overall selection, the Blue Jays took another 6-foot-6 right-hander off the board by choosing high schooler Kendall Williams, a Vanderbilt commit from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Williams has a five-pitch mix and a high ceiling, though could be tougher to sign. The slot value at his spot is $1,403,200.
The Draft continues Tuesday with Rounds 3 to 10. The MLB.com preview show begins at 12:30 p.m. ET, with exclusive coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Go to MLB.com/Draft for complete coverage, including every pick on Draft Tracker, coverage and analysis from MLB Pipeline¡¯s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, the complete order of selection and more. And follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter.
Toronto was represented at the 2019 Draft by Willie Upshaw and Pete Holmes.