Blue Jays select West Virginia ace Alek Manoah No. 11 overall

With the 11th pick in the 2019 MLB amateur draft, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Alek Manoah, a junior right-handed pitcher from West Virginia.

Manoah was not drafted out of high school but broke out almost immediately after arriving at West Virginia. He was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team as a reliever, then built on his solid sophomore campaign by averaging nearly 13 strikeouts per nine innings in seven Cape Cod League starts last summer.

This season, Manoah truly emerged as West Virginia's ace. He was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year by unanimous vote after leading the conference in multiple categories and became the first Big 12 hurler since at least 2003 to strike out 15 in consecutive conference starts. He's also excelled at limiting power, giving up just three homers this year and seven during his entire college career.

"We see him as a big, strong, durable guy who has the chance to take the ball every five days in a major-league rotation," Blue Jays director of amateur scouting Steve Sanders said of Manoah, according to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun.

Bio

Age: 21
Position: RHP
Height/Weight: 6-foot-6, 260 pounds
Bats/Throws: R/R
School: West Virginia University
Pick value (No. 11): $4,547,500
MLB.com money quote: "Whether Manoah can be a starter long term is a question teams will be trying to answer while watching him pitch in the Mountaineers' rotation. At 6-foot-6, 260 pounds, Manoah is a physical beast on the mound. When pitching in relief, he was capable of touching the upper-90s and was up to 95 mph consistently on the Cape, throwing his fastball with decent sink. He couples that with a slider which, while inconsistent, does flash above-average to plus at times, and he has a changeup that has the chance to be average in time."

2019 stats (as of June 3)