October 21: Houston officially announced their one-year deal with Pearson on Tuesday. According to The Associated Press, the deal includes $150K in incentives. He’d earn $50K for reaching 50 innings and $50K apiece at 20 and 25 starts.
October 17: The Astros are in agreement with right-hander Nate Pearson on a one-year, $1.35MM guarantee, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Pearson, a client of Excel Sports Management, is expected to work as a starter. The deal also includes performance bonuses.
Pearson will get the opportunity to pitch out of the rotation for the first time since his brief MLB debut in 2020. The hard-throwing righty made four starts as a rookie with Toronto. He’s made 118 appearances over the past five seasons, and all but two have been out of the bullpen. Pearson spent the last season and a half with the Cubs. He came to Chicago in 2024 via a midseason trade from Toronto.
Pearson made 11 appearances with the Cubs this past season. He broke camp with the team, but gave up 10 earned runs over his first 8 2/3 innings and soon found himself back at Triple-A. Pearson made it back up for a weekend in June, only to be hammered for five earned runs in his lone appearance. His final stint with the big-league club would be two solid outings in August, when he tossed four scoreless innings. In total, Pearson posted a 9.20 ERA across 14 2/3 MLB innings, including an untenable 7:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Chicago released Pearson during the final week of the regular season.
A major-league agreement for Pearson might seem surprising given his recent output at the highest level, but his results were much better at Triple-A Iowa. Pearson recorded a 2.22 ERA with a stellar 30.6% K% across 38 minor-league outings. Free passes remained a problem (12.9% walk rate), but Triple-A batters hit just .170 against Pearson.
Houston is likely betting on pedigree here. Pearson was a first-round selection for Toronto back in 2017. His development was delayed by a broken arm and an oblique injury in 2018, but he broke through with a tremendous 2019 season in the minors. Pearson tossed 101 2/3 innings across three levels, notching a 2.30 ERA with a 30.7% strikeout rate over 25 starts. He entered the 2020 campaign as a top 10 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.
Pearson made five appearances with the Blue Jays in the shortened 2020 season before an elbow injury cut his year short. Injuries would continue to derail him moving forward. A litany of health issues capped Pearson at 45 2/3 innings in 2021 and 30 2/3 frames in 2022. He stayed healthy for 2023 and 2024, working exclusively as a reliever with the Blue Jays before being dealt to Chicago.
Houston has some uncertainty in the rotation heading into 2026. Framber Valdez is a free agent. The club lost Ronel Blanco, Luis Garcia, and Brandon Walter to Tommy John surgery. Spencer Arrighetti’s season ended prematurely due to elbow concerns. Cristian Javier and Lance McCullers Jr. were healthy to close the season, but have dealt with injuries of their own. Jason Alexander went from depth option to rotation mainstay after getting scooped up as a waiver claim. Hunter Brown is the only rock-solid member of the staff at the moment. Pearson comes with plenty of his own question marks, but the risk is minimal. He could return to a bullpen role if starting doesn’t work out.
Image courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images.
There’s the hot stove!
@Steinbrenner2728
More like the easy bake oven with a 10 Watt bulb in it ;o)
Suzy Homemaker.
Now we know who the next All Star reliever will be for the Astros. They’re amazing at that.
Gosh ….He’d be pitching in the WS with the blue jays if he turned out to the prospect they thought he was going to be
Next article, please…Framber signs with the Cubs.
We will call it an even swap and move towards spring training.
I hope the cubs arent the team that gives 5 years to a 32 year old pitcher coming off his worst full season as a starter
His “worst” season was still 31 starts and a 3.66 in Houston.
Don’t know what his eventual contract will be but he certainly would slot nice at Wrigley.
I would prefer Ranger to Framber, but either free agent would be better than the Cubs being cheap and passing on FAs to trade prospects for a cheaper starter.
Good luck with that. The guy has good stuff but he doesn’t have the foggiest idea where his pitches are going.
The kind of guy the right pitching coach could turn around. I wouldn’t bet on that happening, but it is a low risk high reward situation
Already had the right pitching coach…this is the “third or fourth time’s a charm” or blind squirrel egg in the basket hope.
In this day and age of baseball I guess 1.35M is low risk.
Day and age of baseball? What are you, 100 years old? Try to loosen up there Stan.
The minimum salary is 760k. 1.35 mil is low risk. After his last change of scenary, he was very good for 1/3 of a season (last year with the cubs).
Relievers turn it around all the time. If you like a guys stuff, go for it. If he sucks you cut him and you’re fine
Watching him try to get through 1 inning without walking everybody or hitting the mascot or or on deck hitter was hard enough. He throws 30 pitches an inning so I hope they sign a good long man or 2 also. Brutal
Im certainly no spring chicken but if you consider that the minimum salary is about $760 K and Roberto Clemente made LESS than that for his ENTIRE career, no loosening up needed…..it’s a different day and a different age.
5th starters got 15 mil a year last year on the market. This is a steal. And honestly he can’t do much worse than how most of those signings turned out.
He has been in the top 5 for the Cy Young almost every year in the past 5 seasons
I thought Free agency didn’t start until after the World Series ended?
he was already a free agent. I think you are referring to guys who were under contract
You’re right. The CUBS fully released him on Sept 24th.
It’s only guys still under contract until after the World Series
If that is the case, does the 1 year contract cover 2025 or 2026 then?
$1MM for 2025 sounds like a great deal for the pitcher
Same. Maybe guys with 9+ era’s get front seat row???
He’s so awful. Cubs brass was obsessed with giving him opportunities bc he throws hard. Sooooo happy someone else has the rights to him.
never heard of him
Do you only watch baseball once a year? Do you know anything about any players not on whatever team you support. Very sad.
lol… sorry i’ve never heard of this rando failed prospect. I’m sure he’s a very nice man.
I only know of him as a Jays fan. I’m a pretty avid watcher of baseball but I couldn’t tell you who half of the relievers in the NL are, for instance. It’s kind of a weird thing to go at someone for. But then NR seems to make a habit of posting that comment. Oddly, that I remember. Bad brain.
So you knew he was a failed prospect.
Hmmmmmmmm
He was a top 25 prospect at one point. Must not follow too closely.
There’s following baseball and then there’s dreaming on prospects. Some of us love baseball but can’t be bothered to track minor leaguers who, considering the odds, will most likely fail. To me personally, it just feels like a poor investment of my time. (I am aware of the irony here but let’s pretend and move on). Which is not to say it’s somehow an invalid way to enjoy the sport, it certainly isn’t. It’s just not for everyone.
He’s been primarily a major leaguer since 2020.
Probably the most talented awful player I’ve seen
Ha! Well said. Me too.
Pearson starting? They must mean starting as in an opener.
Or starting down in AA…
@Roguesaw2
Doubt it. It’s a MLB deal and he’s out of options. He’d have to be outrighted off the 40 man before he could be sent down.
No linky for this guy? Maybe coming soon.
Teams like velocity.If you throw 97-98 or more,you get tons on chances.If they threw 90 -91.They would never be heard from again.
If throwing 90 was good, then every team’s rotation would be filled with guys who throw 90.
$1.35 million thrown right in the trash.
I can’t see this working out at all. Like 1% chance he actually makes a start of 5+ innings that doesn’t involve multiple walks.
But if there’s a place where it might actually work it’s probably Houston.
I expect a change in pitch mix. Maybe lean into the sinker more and increase the ground ball rate. His four-seamer really only misses bats when he locates it up in the zone anyway, which isn’t often. And if the Astros really think he can start, they’re surely going to bring back his changeup. Maybe a kick change or a split?
Look what they did with Verlander and Cole. Worst case he ends up back in the pen if they get his release point right.
Cue up the June 2026 headline: “Pearson headed for Tommy John”
I don’t think that he has enough service time to collect that money if he refuses an outright. He seems like a guy that start at AAA and then get selected and called up for a day or two and outrighted; nobody else will pay to claim him, he won’t reject the money… rinse and repeat.
Dana Brown has struck gold on a lot of low risk high reward pickups like this, I’m intrigued.