Blue Jays' Alek Manoah fires back at MLB analyst for comments about his workout routine
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah took aim at a Major League Baseball Network analyst on social media Wednesday after the broadcaster made comments about Manoah’s exercise habits.
"Alek Manoah, I love you, Alek, just show me you're willing to put a bit more time in the gym and that you're going to be there consistently for a bit longer," Anthony Recker said in a televised panel discussion about the best pitchers under 30 years old.
In response to the comment, Manoah, 25, responded on Twitter, stating that his job isn’t to please Recker.
“You are an outsider, you don’t know me or my work ethic,” Manoah said.
“What I do in the gym has clearly worked. Check the numbers, sucks you can’t say the same for yourself,” he added.
The exchange didn’t end there – Recker responded, claiming the video was shared out of context.
“Don’t let someone throw a video out of context at you and get you upset,” Recker wrote. “You’re an incredible talent, man, and I’d love to see you make the most of that.”
“I hope to see you continue to get better and be great for a long time. I wish I had even a tiny speck of the talent you do,” he continued.
Manoah then came back at Recker – “You’re just like everyone else. Love to talk and then wanna say sorry when you get called out,” he wrote.
“If you wanna see how an All-Star, 1st team All-MLB, and CY young finalist trains, come meet me,” he added.
This isn’t the first time Manoah has been embroiled in a social media feud. In September, the all-star took to Twitter to defend teammate Alejandro Kirk after a TSN radio host called a video of Kirk “embarrassing to the sport [of baseball].”
“What's actually embarrassing for the sport is people that go by the name of Matthew and have never played a day in the big leagues thinking they can control the narrative and stereotypes,” Manoah wrote at the time.
“Go ahead and tell that eight-year-old kid who is 10 lbs overweight that he should quit now. Or ... Just step aside from the keyboard and let KIRK inspire those kids to continue to chase their dreams and chase greatness,” he added.
TSN radio host Matthew Ross deleted his Twitter account following the exchange and later said he "deeply" regretted the comments. Manoah was awarded a $100,000 'sportsmanship sponsorship' by Dove Men+Care for coming to Kirk's defence.
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