The fall of Alek Manoah has to be one of the most fascinating things to happen this season. Last year, the Toronto Blue Jays righty was one of the best pitchers in the entire league. He was one of the finalists for the AL Cy Young award. However, this season, Manoah's performance has completely fallen off a cliff.

Manoah's been sent to the Blue Jays' Florida Complex League team (the Rookie League team) due to his struggles. He made his return to the major league a couple of months ago, but subsequent struggles (and Toronto's playoff push) forced him back to the Minors. Now, an interesting development has happened during Manoah's stint at Buffalo: he was sent to the team's inactive list, per Ben Nicholson-Smith.

“The Bisons placed Alek Manoah on the temporarily inactive list yesterday Per MiLB, “If a Minor League player is away from a team for a few days because of a personal matter, travel to an All-Star game, etc., & is not placed on the IL, he is placed on the temporary inactive list””

After yet another disastrous stint for the Blue Jays on August 10, the team decided to option Alek Manoah to their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo. However, Manoah has not reported to the team since that move. That has caused an uproar amongst fans, who are especially frustrated at Manoah, his struggles, and now his insubordination.

Why is Manoah struggling so hard at the major leagues this season? Well, the most likely culprit is the new pitch clock rules in place. The Blue Jays pitcher was one of the slowest pitchers to the mound last season. Some of the “slower” pitchers have adjusted to the new rules in place. Manoah, though, hasn't. When everyone else is mostly doing fine, there's really no excuse for his poor performance.