In early December, Alek Manoah and the Los Angeles Angels agreed to a one-year deal. Manoah didn’t pitch in the majors in the 2025 season. Looking at this signing, does the Angels front office make a good decision?
To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website. Alek Manoah made his MLB debut in 2021. So far in his career, he made 75 starts, posting a 3.34 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP over 420 innings. Nonetheless, he didn’t pitch in the majors this season. In 2023, he only tossed 87.1 innings in the majors and in 2024, he only made 5 starts for the Blue Jays.
In addition, let’s look back at his performance against the AL West opponents.
Firstly, Manoah faced the Astros twice so far in his career. He threw 6.1 innings, but he gave up 8 runs (all earned). He pitched well in a start against the Astros in 2022. Nonetheless, in 2023, he only tossed 0.1 innings against the Astros, giving up 6 runs. Additionally, against the A’s, he made 3 starts, posting an ERA over 6. His WHIP against the A’s is 1.32. In 2022, Manoah made 2 starts against the A’s, allowing 7 runs (6 earned) over 11.2 innings.
Moreover, Manoah already made 3 starts against the Mariners. He tossed 17.2 innings with 20 strikeouts. Against the Mariners, he owns a 3.57 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. The Mariners hit .194 against him. He faced the Mariners 2 times in 2023, giving up 5 runs (all earned) over 10.1 innings. Furthermore, Manoah didn’t pitch against the Rangers before.
In addition, let’s take a look at advanced stats. Batting average against Manoah was .202 in 2022. Back then, he finished 3rd in the AL Cy Young voting. However, in 2023, batting average against Manoah was .269. In 2024, batting average against him was below .200. Nonetheless, looking at HR%, in 2024, his HR% was 4.9%, highest so far in his career. In 2021 and 2022, he had a HR% below 3%. Moreover, we can see that his K% was over 20% in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In 2023, his K% was 19%. And looking at the BB%, Manoah’s BB% was over 10% in 2023. In other seasons, he finished each season with a BB% below 10%. Moreover, in 2021 and 2022, the hard-hit rate against Manoah was below 32%. Nevertheless, in 2023 and 2024, the hard-hit rate against him was over 35% each season.
When we look back at Manoah’s performance, well, he didn’t pitch well against the Astros and the A’s. Additionally, he has to keep his BB% low. If his BB% is the same as the number in 2023, it won’t be ideal. Furthermore, he didn’t pitch in the majors in 2025, so it’s not so easy to predict whether he will pitch well in the 2026 season. In particular, he hasn’t reached 100 innings since the 2022 season. The Angels didn’t play well in 2025. Nevertheless, 5 starters in the rotation each tossed 100+ innings. 100 innings shall be minimum for Manoah. Hence, it’ll be quite important for him to stay healthy.
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