ANAHEIM — On the day Alek Manoah rejoined a major-league roster for the first time since 2024, he didn’t need to do any math to note the significance.
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“It’s been 688 days since my surgery,” Manoah said with a smile on Wednesday morning. “Just (expletive) excited to be here. It’s been a fun journey. I’m thankful for all the ups and down and everything in between, so just happy to be active.”
Manoah had Tommy John surgery in 2024, derailing a career that started with him making the All-Star Game in 2022, his first full season. Injuries have kept him from getting back to that level.
He’s clearly still not there. Manoah gave up six runs in 4⅓ innings in his first minor-league rehab game on Saturday night. His fastball velocity was also still down.
The Angels activated him on Wednesday because they needed a fresh arm who could serve as the long man out of the bullpen. Left-hander Mitch Farris was still not available after throwing 58 pitches on Monday night.
Manoah, 28, said he was ready for anything.
“I’ll take the ball whenever my name is called,” he said.
After missing so much time, Manoah clearly views any major league opportunity as precious. When he was asked about his “comfort level” in returning to his previous form, he had a philosophical answer.
“The big leagues isn’t for comfort,” he said. “The big leagues is like the lion and the gazelle. The gazelle wakes up in the morning and knows he has to outrun the slowest lion or he’s going to be dinner. And the lion wakes up in the morning knowing he’s got to go catch the slowest gazelle so he can feed his family. Long story short, you got to wake up and run. That’s the name of the game. Comfort level, who cares about any of that stuff? Let’s go play some baseball.”
PITCHING UPDATES
Manoah took the roster spot of left-hander Sam Aldegheri, who was optioned a day after he pitched four innings, starting in place of injured Yusei Kikuchi.
Barring another injury, Aldegheri won’t be eligible to come back in less than 15 days, so the Angels will need someone else the next time they need to fill that spot in the rotation. Because of Thursday’s off day, they could push the start as far as next Tuesday, in Cleveland.
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They could use Farris in that spot if he’s not needed in relief before then.
Right-hander Ryan Johnson, who began the season in the rotation, is headed to Oklahoma City to start Friday for Triple-A Salt Lake. He said he’s expecting to throw about 75 pitches.
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez felt good after his five-inning outing in the Arizona Complex League on Tuesday night. Manager Kurt Suzuki said Rodriguez will next appear in a game with one of the Angels’ full-season minor-league affiliates. He is expected to throw about 90 pitches.
“Every text after each start, it’s getting better and better,” Suzuki said. “It’s like ‘I feel great. I feel excited. Awesome. Ready to go.’ So that’s a good sign.”
Right-hander Ben Joyce is scheduled to pitch for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday. That would be his fourth game. So far he’s given up one run in three innings, with three strikeouts and three walks.
NOTES
Catcher Logan O’Hoppe (fractured hand) will go with the Angels on their upcoming trip to Toronto and Cleveland. O’Hoppe has been hitting in the cage and playing catch. Suzuki said his rehab comes down to “pain tolerance.” …
Asked if he’d like to find a “soft spot” to get Kirby Yates into his first game, Suzuki quipped: “I don’t think there’s really many soft spots recently for us. I would love a soft spot where we’re winning 11-0. That would be awesome. We’ll see. At the same time, this guy’s been doing it for a long time. I don’t really know if he thinks he needs a soft spot. I think just throw him in the game and I think he’ll be ready to go.”
UP NEXT
Angels (LHP Reid Detmers, 1-2, 4.28 ERA) at Blue Jays (RHP Dylan Cease, 2-1, 3.05 ERA), Friday, 4:07 p.m. PT, ABTV, 830 AM
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