February 25, 2020 12:47 PM : Manaea, who allowed six earned runs on six hits while recording two strikeouts over 1.2 innings in a Cactus League loss to the Brewers on Monday, was nevertheless encouraged by the ongoing refinement of his slider, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports. ""It was good. I was pretty happy with it," Manaea said of the movement of his slider. "I was able to control it a little bit. Especially the first inning, it was good. I felt like I threw some really good ones right off my fingertips. I was really happy with it, movement-wise. Not so much location-wise."
Analysis: The southpaw has been diligently working on sharpening up his slider this offseason and in camp thus far, even getting some one-on-one work in with the legendary Randy Johnson during the Big Unit's recent visit to spring training. Gallegos reports that most of Manaea's problems Monday stemmed from fastballs that were intended to serve as inside pitches and were instead essentially grooved down the middle of the plate. A pair of those resulted in two-run home runs from Orlando Arcia and Lucas Erceg, and the fact Manaea also threw 39 pitches overall may have led to some fatigue. The 28-year-old will look to bounce back in his next Cactus League start, which will likely come toward the end of the week or on the weekend.