Alek Manoah tried to inspire Angels fans and somehow made things worse

The Los Angeles Angels activated pitcher Alek Manoah from the injured list earlier this week. When the right-hander steps back onto the mound, it'll be his first appearance in the big leagues since his 2024 season with Toronto Blue Jays.

Manoah is obviously excited for his return to the majors, and during a recent interview talked about his perspective after missing so much time due to injuries and underperformance. Interestingly, Manoah took reporters on an African safari of sorts, and in doing so seemed to miss the mark entirely.

Angels fans hope Alek Manoah's comments aren't a reflection of his performance

“The big leagues is like the lion and the gazelle. The gazelle wakes up in the morning and knows he has to outrun the slowest lion or he’s going to be dinner. And the lion wakes up in the morning knowing he’s got to go catch the slowest gazelle so he can feed his family. Long story short, you got to wake up and run. That’s the name of the game. Comfort level, who cares about any of that stuff? Let’s go play some baseball.”

Okay. Manoah was responding to a question about his comfort level, so the last part of his quote is accurate (I think). But his illustration involving the lion and gazelle didn't really make much sense at all. As a matter of fact, he's completely wrong.

Perhaps he's taking a cue from the philosophical view point of the hunter versus the hunted. In other words, you're either the predator (proactive) or the prey (reactive). But even that doesn't necessarily fit what he was talking about.

Furthermore, his example gives two totally incompatible scenarios. Yes, in theory, the lion wakes up looking for the slowest gazelle, and thus an easy meal. But gazelle doesn't have to worry about the slowest lion. It's the fastest lion that he's got to worry about. And then to top it off, his conclusion is to, "get up and run." Run where? Why?

It's almost as if Manoah had just watched an episode of The Office and was inspired by Steve Carrell's character Michael Scott. Or he'd just seen the movie Billy Madison and replaying the famous scene where the principal said, "Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it." Sorry, Alek. But I award you no points.

Angels fans are just hoping he performs better on the mound than he does behind a microphone. If Los Angeles can get the vintage of version of Manoah from his All-Star season in 2022, Angels fans will be eagerly awaiting a future tale about a polar bear and a penguin.

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