Means

The two one-time Mountaineers are pitchers — Means with the again-popular Baltimore Orioles and Manoah with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Means is now 30 and still recovering from Tommy John surgery that he had in 2022. He tried pitching in Sept. 2023 and was attempting to be ready for the American League playoffs against the Texas Rangers. Last September, he pitched 23.2 innings and had a 2.66 ERA before experiencing tightness in his elbow that would prevent him from being placed on Baltimore’s active roster for the playoff series against eventual World Series champion Texas.

Baltimore had earlier posted a likely five-man starting rotation for the beginning of the 2024 season and Means was listed as the No. 4 starter.

That scenario will not happen. Means has not pitched at all in spring training. He will almost certainly begin the regular season on the injured list.

Manoah

The list revealed as Baltimore’s likely rotation had Corbin Burnes as the likely opening day starter followed by Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, Means and No. 5 starter Dean Kremer.

Bradish has also been injured and could possibly miss the beginning of the new season.

Since Means is rehabilitating an arm injury from before, his timeline to return to any kind of pitching is very much up in the air.

Toronto’s Manoah recorded a 16-7 record, with a 2.24 ERA in 31 starts for the Blue Jays in 2022. Then, last season, his injuries limited him to 19 starts and a 3-9 record with a 5.87 ERA.

Just recently he attempted his first spring training innings of 2024 and it was mostly unsuccessful.

In his lone spring training appearance, the 6-foot-8 Manoah hit three batters in his 1.2 innings of wildness. He also allowed three hits and four runs (all earned). He didn’t have any strikeouts and left the game with a 21.60 ERA.

Manoah’s next appearance is clouded by his earlier performance.

Manoah had been a first round draft selection of Toronto in 2019 after he played for the Mountaineers from 2017-2019.

Means missed the remainder of 2022 season after his arm surgery and only returned in Sept. 2023 in an effort to give the Orioles another option for the playoffs.

Neither Means nor Manoah has a realistic timeline on when they can return to on-field workouts leading back to pitching in the big leagues.