The Angels have taken a flier on big right-hander Alex Manoah who seeks to re-establish himself as a major league pitcher. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
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Alex Manoah is now a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the deal. Based on his rollercoaster of a career, it is only fitting that he will be playing just down the street from Disneyland.
The Atlanta Braves elected not to tender Manoah a contract last month, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Angels, who are in the process of rebuilding their team, pounced quickly, signing the big righty to a one-year, $1.95 million deal.
Manoah has not pitched in the major leagues since the middle of 2024 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. That procedure followed a tumultuous time in his career. The Blue Jays selected Manoah with the 11th pick in the 2019 draft and shepherded him through their system. He made his MLB debut in 2021 against New York Yankees, going six innings, allowing just two hits while striking out seven without surrendering any runs.
In 2022, he broke out, going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA and 180 strikeouts. He made his first (and so far, only) All-Star team, and pitched in that game while mic’d up, entertaining the viewing audience. At the end of the season, he got down-ballot MVP votes, and came in third in the Cy Young race.
But the wheels came off the wagon in 2023, when he started 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA. After that, he was sent to the minors. And he wasn’t just sent down to Triple-A. Toronto sent him to the Florida Complex League to take all the pressure off and allow him to toy, tinker, and tweak his mechanics and his arsenal. He came back up to the big club a month later, going 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA over seven starts. But with a roster glut, and middling performance, Manoah was sent down to Triple-A in August.
He started the 2024 season back to Toronto in 2024, where he made five starts before going under the knife to repair his ulnar collateral ligament. His rehab had him back in the minors until the Blue Jays designated him for assignment in September of this year. The Braves claimed him, but he never pitched for the team; and now he won’t.
The Angels are taking a flier on a pitcher who has reasonably strong upside. Fangraphs had him as 50 “Future Value” (on the 20-80 scale), with a 60-grade fastball and a 60/70-grade slider. In 2022 he showed what he could do when he is healthy – in mind and in body.
Los Angeles, in a bid to improve their pitching (in 2025 they ranked 29th in fWAR, 29th in FIP, 28th in ERA, and 24th in strikeouts/nine), hired former Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, and last month they traded outfielder Taylor Ward to the Baltimore Orioles for another buy-low pitcher, Grayson Rodriguez. Both Manoah and Rodriguez should slot into the Angels’ starting rotation next season, behind Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, and Reid Detmers.
The Angels have a long way to go before they are a competitive team, but adding a lottery ticket like Manoah, at less than $2 million with no obligations beyond 2026, will certainly help. With the winter meetings about to begin in Orlando, Florida, and still three months before pitchers and catchers report, they have ample time to rework their lineup and give Mike Trout another chance to play post-season baseball.