Blue Jays MVP Rankings: Making a case for Manoah

theScore is making a case for Toronto Blue Jays players who have the best chance to become the team's 2022 MVP. On Wednesday, we examine Alek Manoah's candidacy.

Pros

Manoah has been sensational for the Blue Jays. The 24-year-old leads Toronto in wins, innings pitched, ERA, and win probability added, while he sits second in FIP, strikeouts, and BB/9 and third in K/9 among qualified Blue Jays starters. The right-hander has never been on the injured list and has tossed five-plus innings in every start, with Toronto winning 13 of his 22 outings. The Florida native has also allowed two earned runs or fewer in 16 of his starts and hasn't given up more than four earned in any outing this campaign. How valuable is Manoah to the Blue Jays? Well, his season thus far is worth $21.7 million, according to FanGraphs. His actual salary: $706,200.

Cons

There aren't many holes in Manoah's game, so we'll nitpick. While the hurler's stuff has allowed him to rank in the 94th percentile in Baseball Savant's HardHit%, the effectiveness of his weapons has recently declined by the stuff+ metric, according to The Athletic's Eno Sarris. The decline could be partially responsible for Manoah ranking 35th among qualified starters in K/9 and in the 50th percentile in whiff% and 53rd percentile in fastball velocity. He's also outside the top 20 in FIP and has gotten a bit lucky on balls in play with a .259 BABIP.

Verdict

While Manoah has been an integral part of the Blue Jays' success and looks to be a future stalwart in the rotation, the charismatic right-hander winds up third in our MVP rankings. Not too shabby for a second-year hurler on a playoff team.