For a pitcher who found himself demoted to the San Francisco Giants bullpen last season, Sean Manaea has certainly pressed all the right buttons to get his career back on track in 2024 with the Mets.
The 32-year-old southpaw put together yet another gem on Tuesday night down in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, going 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on four hits with 11 strikeouts and zero walks. It is the third time in his last six starts that Manaea has racked up double-digit strikeouts while walking one or fewer batters.
Only Tyler Glasnow of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves have more 10-plus strikeouts with one or fewer walk games than Manaea’s three.
Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom were the last to have more such starts with the Mets in a single season, both of whom put up five in 2022.
Speaking of deGrom, Manaea’s recent run has reminded one of the two-time Cy Young Award winner’s former teammates of the ex-Met ace.
“The last guy that I’ve seen kind of pitch like this was probably deGrom,” Brandon Nimmo told SNY after Tuesday night’s 8-3 win. “You’re just going through it, just swing-and-miss, swing-and-miss, and go back to the dugout. It’s pretty impressive to watch and I know from facing him that he’s not an easy at-bat. He’s also found another gear and kicked it in.”
Manaea’s renaissance has been instrumental in keeping the Mets’ starting rotation afloat, especially when things began looking dire last month after Kodai Senga was lost for the season and Christian Scott went on the IL with a sprained UCL.
In his last 12 starts dating back to June 26, he has a 2.86 ERA with 76 strikeouts compared to 23 walks (72.1 IP). Of the five games in which a Mets pitcher has recorded 10 or more strikeouts this season, Manaea has four of them.
Only three other pitchers in the National League dating back to June 6 have thrown at least 70 innings with a sub-3.00 ERA and 75-plus strikeouts: Sale, Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes, and Hunter Greene of the Cincinnati Reds.
“You have to give him credit, man,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s worked so hard throughout his career to put himself in this position. As we progress this season, he’s getting better and better.”
Mechanical changes have sparked Manaea’s resurgence, particularly the dropping of his arm angle and the tweaking of his four-seam fastball to pair with a newly developed sweeper that got him back in the Giants’ rotation down the stretch last year.
He has flattened out the vertical breaks of his sinker and fastball — the latter he is throwing less of but has become his most stupefying pitch. Opposing batters are hitting just .169 against the four-seamer, which has gotten 21.6% of his strikeouts this season. Only the sweeper, his deadliest pitch, has piled up a higher percentage.
Per Baseball Savant, his fastball run value ranks in the 98th percentile of all pitchers in Major League Baseball.
“The last couple years have been tough, a lot of lessons. I’ve definitely learned from them and have made adjustments. I’m just feeling good,” Manaea said. “Mechanically, just simplifying everything and getting to a point where I can repeat consistently and just attack guys on a consistent basis.”
