Alek Manoah is one of the most exciting young pitchers in Major League Baseball, but the Toronto Blue Jays ace has caught the ire of American League East rivals.
Boston Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo, who is not afraid to express his emotions on the field, felt the 25-year-old right-hander crossed a line last season. Manoah went viral on July 23 when he struck out Franchy Cordero and Bobby Dalbec and was very pumped when he told them to “sit the (expletive) down.”
“If it’s a genuine reaction and it’s for the boys, not directed towards somebody, then yeah (it’s fine),” Verdugo told Rob Bradford on “Baseball Isn’t Boring” on Tuesday, per Audacy’s Logan Mullen. “Like I’ll say it right now, I think Alek Manoah goes about it the wrong way, 100% I think he does. You can find videos of him, footage of him in Triple-A going like this to hitters. Last year, telling Franchy and Bobby like go sit, (expletive) like that and looking right at them.
“So it’s like, (expletive) like that just pisses me off. It’s not the way it should be played. It should be played like you’re celebrating it with your team, you’re not (expletive) disrespecting another player who is — at the end of the day we’re just trying to compete, that’s it.”
Gerrit Cole went at it with Manoah last season after the latter hit Aaron Judge with a 92 mph sinker. But Manoah had the last word when he called out the New York Yankees ace for his alleged cheating.
Fans might be split on Manoah’s on-field antics, but a growing beef among AL East rivals is one that should excite supporters on all sides.
