Former Blue Jays All-Star Alek Manoah Pitching Himself Out of Angels Plans

Well, it seemed like a decent low-risk, high-reward shot in the dark for the Los Angeles Angels to take. But it now looks like former Toronto Blue Jays All-Star Alek Manoah has blown his chance to make the Angels rotation.

He now has a 9.39 ERA in five starts this spring in the Cactus League for the Angels after this week's shelling against the Chicago Cubs in which he gave up three homers, four walks and seven earned runs in four innings.

Alek Manoah’s final line vs. the Cubs:

4.0 IP
8 H
7 ER
4 BB
5 Ks
3 HRs allowed pic.twitter.com/Kzj0V8R6YZ
— SleeperAngels (@SleeperAngels) March 18, 2026

Manoah has now walked 14 batters in 15.1 innings whiule giving up 23 hits and 16 earned runs. He has a WHIP of 2.41. Yes, for an ERA that would be mighty impressive. For a WHIP, it's downright putrid.

Now 28, Manoah came storming out of the gates as a rookie with the Blue Jays in 2021 and amped it up to another level in '22, when he was the top attraction at the MidSummer Classic during his mic'd up inning. He went 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA that season for Toronto, with a 0.99 WHIP, and it looked like the future was his.

Manoah has imploded since his 2022 All-Star season, has 9.39 ERA this spring

But he has completely imploded since then, with an ERA of 5.87 in 2023. He clawed his way back up to the majors in 2024, and actually didn't perform too badly in limited outings. But his 2025 was an abject disaster once again, and he never even made an appearance in the majors at all.

Manoah signed a one-year, $1.95 million deal with the Angels this offseason and, on a team without a lot of sure-fire locked-in options in the rotation, he came into camp with a great shot at winning the 5th starter's role.

It's hard to imagine the Angels will run him out there in a major league game after these five ugly starts this spring.

More bad news for the Angels as one of their other formerly promising new starters, Grayson Rodriguez, has been shut down due to a "dead arm" period.