A year ago, Sean Manaea looked to be one of the better starters in the New York Mets rotation, posting a 3.47 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.
He was throwing the baseball better than ever, a very promising sign for a Mets team that was hoping to get similar production out of him this year.
Unfortunately, Manaea dealt with an injury to start the campaign, and he's only thrown in 10 games throughout the year.
What will the Mets do with Sean Manaea?
In his 10 outings, including nine starts, he's thrown 45.0 innings, striking out 59 hitters, but giving up 28 earned runs. He's also allowed eight home runs, has a 72 ERA+ and a 5.60 ERA.
He hasn't been as good as many had hoped for, and some believe he needs to be taken out of the rotation. However, according to skipper Carlos Mendoza, Manaea will be in the rotation moving forward, and the Mets’ focus will be on getting him right.
“Right now the biggest thing for Sean is he’s not elevating the fastball,” Mendoza said, per Mika Puma of The New York Post. “So, he’s getting hit with it and he’s not able to use the changeup and sweeper the way he wants. But it starts with him elevating that fastball — what made him effective last year.”
“They are part of the rotation,” Mendoza said. “So, our job is trying to find a way to help and that’s what we will do.”
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It isn't the worst idea for the Mets to try to get Manaea back to the level he was expected to throw the baseball at entering the season, but there's only so much time they can continue to wait for him to do that.