It hasn’t been long since Blue Jays fans have had a beloved ace sporting the sacred number 6 on their back. No shade intended towards Marcus Stroman but we’ve never had one quite like this. Alek Manoah has developed into the true opening day starter the Toronto Blue Jays have been looking for since the departure of Robbie Ray. And while much of the rest of the rotation has either been plagued by injury or underperformed, Manoah has been a staple in Toronto’s ability to remain in the wild card race.
It doesn’t take long for Jays fans to start looking around the league to compare numbers to some of the American League’s most formidable Cy Young award candidates once we have one of our own, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. This season the AL has conjured up an abundance of quality pitching and not exclusively from the starting rotation.
Historically what makes a Cy Young candidate is a combination of soaking up incredible amounts of innings while maintaining an extremely low earned run average and in turn getting plenty of wins. Alek currently sits 4th amongst AL starters in ERA with a 2.31, a stat which has been dominated this season by Astros’ Justin Verlander, who boasts an absurd 1.80 to date. Though Manoah managed to start a few extra games and total a little over 20 innings more than Verlander.
Striking out a lot of batters can’t hurt either, so let’s see how Manoah stacks up statistically to others around the league in the hunt for the hardware.
| Player | Team | G | IP | ERA | K | W-L | SV |
| Alek Manoah | TOR | 30 | 190.2 | 2.31 | 176 | 15-7 | 0 |
| Justin Verlander | HOU | 27 | 170.0 | 1.80 | 175 | 17-4 | 0 |
| Framber Valdez | HOU | 29 | 191.0 | 2.69 | 182 | 16-5 | 0 |
| Emmanuel Clase | CLE | 74 | 69.2 | 1.42 | 71 | 3-4 | 39 |
| Dylan Cease | CHW | 31 | 179.0 | 2.06 | 222 | 14-7 | 0 |
| Jordan Romano | TOR | 60 | 61.1 | 2.20 | 70 | 5-4 | 35 |
| Shane Bieber | CLE | 30 | 195.0 | 2.91 | 195 | 12-8 | 0 |
| Gerrit Cole | NYY | 32 | 194.2 | 3.51 | 248 | 13-7 | 0 |
As amazing as it is to see two Blue Jays amid such talented company, Romano’s terrific season thus far at the back end of the Jays bullpen hasn’t been enough to solidify himself as one of the favourites, especially being overshadowed by Emmanuel Clase’s remarkable campaign with the Guardians.
On the other hand, Manoah at first glance is comparable to the best of the best statistically, remaining consistent across all categories. Where he may be hurt in voting is the incredible records of Verlander and Valdez boasted by their teams 102-win season with 6 games to be played.
By the numbers the favourite has to be Verlander, and barring anything drastic he should take home the deserved award. But by the looks of it the vote should not be clear cut, and could be contested heavily by Valdez, Clase, Cease and Manoah. It will be interesting to see where the votes lie when it’s all said and done, but it is definitely safe to say that there is a Cy Young case for our beloved ace.
(Photo: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)