Blue Jays pitching notes: Alek Manoah, replacing Yimi García, Jeff Hoffman's command

New York Times

25-05-2025

TAMPA, Fla. — It was all about the arms before the Toronto Blue Jays took the field in Tampa Bay.
José Berríos allowed three earned runs in Toronto's 3-1 loss to the Rays on Saturday, but the chatter centered on pitchers who didn't appear on the mound and won't for a while.
From navigating life without Yimi García to picturing a future with Alek Manoah, here are three notes on the state of Toronto's pitching.
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Manoah wrapped his arms around Blue Jays manager John Schneider a few minutes before Friday's first pitch at George M. Steinbrenner Field. With Manoah working at Toronto's player development complex in Florida as he recovers from June 2024 Tommy John surgery, the righty's presence in the Blue Jays dugout was unfamiliar but welcome.
'Just energy and a big body,' Schneider said. 'You know, just a guy to kind of be aware of where he's at, so you don't get knocked over.'
The starting pitcher then slid to the dugout's top step, a spot the Jays hope he'll regularly stand later this season. Manoah is past his elbow's healing process and starting to check boxes for a return. He's throwing two bullpens a week and has recently pushed past 40 pitches. Right now, the righty's working on feel for his pitches, command around the zone, simulating plate appearances and pitch sequencing.
The Jays hope Manoah can be an MLB option in early August, though Tommy John timelines often change. The question is what that reinforcement version of Manoah looks like. The 27-year-old appeared stable in five 2024 starts before injury, rocking a 3.70 ERA, but his disastrous 2023 still lingers. Manoah battled his mechanics during that tumultuous season but feels more in tune with his delivery amid his lengthy recovery from elbow surgery.
'That's the biggest thing,' Manoah said. 'Being able to learn that feel and being able to just build that indestructible base of just learning my stuff, learning the way my body moves.'
When he's back, Manoah's key will be command — it's what he lost in 2023, walking more than six batters per nine innings, and it's often the last facet to return after Tommy John recovery. In Manoah's 2022 All-Star season, he threw 66 percent strikes. During the 2023 campaign that saw him optioned to the minors, that rate dropped 5 percentage points to 61 percent.
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If Manoah keeps down the walks and wild pitches, he can help Toronto down the stretch — as long as the rotation holds until then. For a Blue Jays team that's already used five pitchers to fill an ever-changing fifth rotation spot, any pitching depth, even if it's two months away, is valued.
'Being able to just help in any way is kind of what I'm focused on,' Manoah said. 'You know, I want to get back out there. I want to be healthy. I want to be great.'
The Blue Jays have walked a clear bullpen path for close games this season — García, Brendon Little and Jeff Hoffman. Others have stepped in at times, but only those three have faced more than 15 batters in high-leverage situations.
The Jays have to find new options in the late innings with García heading to the injured list with right shoulder impingement on Saturday. It's an issue García navigated for the 'last handful of weeks,' Schneider said, and he'll return to see team doctors in Toronto to establish a recovery timeline. Yariel Rodríguez is an obvious choice to step up, riding eight straight scoreless appearances, and Chad Green has late-game experience. But this could be a shot for Mason Fluharty.
The rookie left-hander has just 2 1/3 innings of high-leverage work this season, but he's allowed a batting average under .175 to both left- and right-handed hitters. Early in his minor-league career, Fluharty struggled against righty bats, but his cutter has become a weapon against the other side of the platoon. He's using it nearly 70 percent of the time against right-handers this year, inducing a .091 batting average and .244 expected weighted on-base average against opposite-handed hitters. With his stuff playing against both sides, Fluharty has earned bigger moments.
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On the surface, Hoffman's 6.04 ERA and three blown saves in his last seven appearances are concerning. But Schneider says he's unworried, Hoffman claims he's fine and the numbers suggest they're right.
'Just in talking with him, he's in a good spot,' Schneider said. 'I think that, you know, the life of a reliever and a high-leverage reliever is bumpy.'
Hoffman is striking out a career-high 13.7 batters per nine and allowing walks at a nearly identical rate to 2024. The issue is an inflated homer total, allowing five long balls in his first 22.1 innings. Everything suggests that will change.
Nearly 30 percent of Hoffman's fly balls have left the ballpark. In the past three years, his rate of home runs per fly ball was 6.8 percent, and the league average rests at 8.5 percent. There's a lot of room for normalization there.
Hoffman has missed his spots at times this year, leading to damage, but his control has improved in 2025. In his All-Star season last year, 39 percent of Hoffman's pitches landed within one ball width of the strike zone's edge. This year, he's sitting at 43 percent in the shadow of the zone. His percentage of pitches down the middle remains the same as in 2024.
The ERA is high, and the blown saves hurt, but Schneider and Hoffman seem correct to preach calm in the closer role.
(Top photo of José Berríos: Mark Taylor / Getty Images)