Alek Manoah pitching prop odds vs. Detroit, July 7: Righty makes first start since minors demotion

Alek Manoah will make his first MLB start in a month against the Detroit Tigers tonight.

The pregame narrative: Manoah was demoted after a horrific start to the season but is coming off a 10-strikeout performance in a minor league start with Double-A New Hampshire. Now the Toronto Blue Jays will turn to him to kick off their final series before the all-star break.

Manoah prop odds

Click linked odds to add selection to your betslip. Note: Lines have changed/market no longer available if grey.

MLB odds as of 2:09 p.m. ET on 07/07/2023.

The markets on Manoah are limited tonight.

While you will find total outs props for most starters, there’s simply no way of telling what to expect from Manoah. It shouldn’t be surprising that this line is unavailable, but it does decrease the ways you can directly bet on him in Toronto’s series opener.

Manoah was demolished in a rookie ball start in his first appearance since getting demoted, allowing 11 runs to players that are far away from reaching the big leagues. It was a nightmare scenario but to his credit, he bounced back strong.

Now, mind you, it came at the Double-A level but the results were still largely impressive and at the very least encouraging:

• 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 10 K

The walks aren’t a huge confidence booster ahead of tonight, especially not after he had the highest walk rate in MLB before being sent down. He also hit a batter.

But double-digit strikeouts at any level is a good sign and reports were that he looked good, too.

Strikeout prop analysis

You should keep this in mind, though, before racing to hammer the over on his K prop or any of the alternative totals: Manoah’s 17.0 K% this season is well below average and significantly lower than the rate he was punching out hitters at in his previous two seasons.

There’s no recommendation coming from us tonight. The 4.5 O/U main line seems reasonable and -115 odds a side has some appeal both ways.

Manoah has topped 4.5 Ks in six of his outings after doing so in 25 of 31 starts a year ago.

Under normal circumstances, it would be viewed as an easy number for him to surpass against a Tigers team with the 10th-highest K rate in MLB. But on top of his struggles, he’ll also likely be working on a short leash tonight.