Is Alek Manoah back to his usual self?

On Sunday May 19th, Alek Manoah had a great pitching performance against the Tampa Bay Rays. This is just a good feeling for all baseball fans, as the past year has been a rough one for Manoah. This performance just begs us to ask the question: Can Alek Manoah get back into his 2022 self?

Manoahs performance on Sunday was just electric. He pitched 7.0 innings, allowing just one hit and one walk, all while throwing seven strikeouts. This game would equate to 30 fantasy points, which is a top-10 pitching performance this year by any pitcher. In this start, Manoah lowered his ERA from 4.91 to 3.00 and his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) from a 6.15 to a 4.71.

Manoahs 2022 season was something to be remembered. He finished third in the AL Cy Young voting to Dylan Cease and Justin Verlander. He had a fabulous 16-7 record, a 2.24 ERA and 180 strikeouts. He also had a 172 ERA + and a 0.992 WHIP, along with a 6.0 WAR. Manoah has shown some flashes in the past season of this remarkable year, but hasn't put anything fully together for an entire season.

Now, to the actual question: Is Alek Manoah back to his 2022 self? The short answer is no, but the long answer is much more than that. We would say that if Manoah can piece together at least two more of these caliber starts, then he can easily come in and be the player he was two seasons ago. That is a big if though for Manoah, who hasn't had five straight good starts since that 2022 season. Either way, keep an eye out for Alek Manoah, just to see what he does.