Red Sox Rival Pitcher Expected To Return After Demotion To Rookie Ball

Toronto Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah was demoted to the rookie-level Florida Complex League on June 6 and didn’t fair well in his two starts getting shelled for 11 runs against the FCL Yankees on June 27.

Manoah, however, took a big step in his return to the big leagues in his Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats start on Sunday. The 25-year-old struck out 10 Portland Sea Dogs batters while allowing one run on three hits in the 12-5 loss.

After grinding it out in the minors, Manoah is on his way back to the big leagues with Toronto set to recall him later this week.

According to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, Manoah realized that even throughout the demotion, there were still a lot of people rooting for him.

“It’s been a lot of ups and downs. Being able to figure everything out and understand that there are a lot of people that are rooting for me, having a great support system around me,” Manoah said, according to Davidi. “Also understanding there are a lot of people that like to kick me when I’m down. And that’s good because that means a lot of people want to see me down and that means they don’t want to see me come back up.

“And I’m ready to come back up. I’m ready to be a tiger. I’m ready to be a horse on that mound and I’m ready to help our team win, you know?” he continued. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned through this whole thing, is that you can kind of get down on yourself, you can think you’re not good, you can get emotional about it but nobody cares. Just got to go out there and compete and when your back’s against the wall, don’t lay down. Just keep fighting.”

Manoah is expected to take the mound for the big club Friday against Detroit. Time will tell if the 2022 Cy Young contender can return to form in the major leagues.