Nate Pearson

Nate Pearson’s 2021 debut is expected to take place in a start against the Astros on Sunday, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith).  For now, the plan is for Pearson to start the game and Anthony Kay will be available in relief if needed, unless Kay is required to pitch tonight.

One of the sport’s top pitching prospects, Pearson posted a 6.00 ERA over 18 innings for Toronto last season while missing some time due to elbow tightness.  Pearson then suffered a Grade 1 groin strain during Spring Training, and while the initial injury was thought to be pretty minor, he then reaggravated the issue in rehab.  After missing so much time in camp, Pearson had to get healthy and then essentially reboot much of his preseason training, though the early returns are promising.  In a start for Triple-A Buffalo earlier this week, the right-hander recorded eight strikeouts while allowing one run on four hits and a walk over 3 2/3 innings.

If Pearson is able to pitch close to his potential, it will be an enormous boost to a Blue Jays team that has been both racked by pitching injuries this season, and is arguably thin on arms even with everyone was at full strength.  Hyun Jin Ryu and Robbie Ray have both looked good in the early going, while Steven Matz has struggled over his last three outings after beginning his Jays tenure with three quality starts.  Tanner Roark has already been released, so if Pearson is able to assume a regular turn in the rotation, that would allow the Jays to move Kay or Ross Stripling into spot starter/swingman/long relief duty.

The Blue Jays have activated right-hander Nate Pearson from the 10-day injured list, the club announced. Pearson will report to the Blue Jays’ alternate site and join their Triple-A team.

Pearson suffered a right groin strain at the beginning of camp last month, though Toronto initially didn’t expect it to lead to a long absence. Roughly two weeks later, Pearson re-aggravated the injury, and he has spent the past month and a half working back from it.

While Pearson is one of the game’s prized young hurlers, evidenced in part by his 16th-place ranking on Baseball America’s list of top 100 prospects, staying healthy has been an issue of late. The hard-throwing 24-year-old made his major league debut last season, though a flexor strain in his elbow limited him to five appearances (four starts) and 18 innings. He struggled across that small sample of work, allowing 15 runs (12 earned) and issuing 13 walks. Pearson only gave up 14 hits, but five of those went for home runs, and he finished with a below-average 19.8 percent strikeout rate.

Although Pearson’s first regular-season action didn’t go well, he did end 2020 on a high note. Pearson made one appearance in the Blue Jays’ wild-card round loss to the Rays and threw two perfect innings with five strikeouts and 12 swings and misses. That’s the type of dominance the Jays are hoping Pearson will provide out of their rotation whenever they recall him this season and over the long haul. The club’s staff could use the help in the near term, as only Hyun Jin Ryu (who’s on the 10-day IL with a right glute strain), Steven Matz and Robbie Ray have made three or more starts and produced positive results this year.

3:37pm: Pearson is doing “better,” according to manager Charlie Montoyo, but it’s “unlikely” he’ll be ready for the start of the season (Twitter link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet).

10:38am: Right-hander Nate Pearson suffered a “mild re-aggravation” of his strained right groin during a bullpen session on Tuesday, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins told reporters (including Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi).  Pearson will be monitored over the next few days, though considering that the young righty has missed almost all of March with the injury, it seems likely that Pearson will need to begin the season on the injured list while he heals and gets properly ramped up to pitch.

Pearson suffered a Grade 1 groin strain on March 1, during his first Grapefruit League outing.  The injury wasn’t considered too serious, and Pearson’s recovery appeared to be going smoothly — for instance, he came out of another bullpen session last Saturday with no issues.  However, the 24-year-old will now probably be facing a delay in the start of his first full Major League season.

One of the game’s most highly-touted young pitchers, Pearson made his MLB debut last season and posted a 6.00 ERA over 18 innings in the regular season, plus two scoreless frames during the Jays’ wild card series with the Rays.  Pearson also spent a month on the IL due to elbow tightness.

Despite the difficulties of Pearson’s first season, the Blue Jays were counting on big things in 2021, hoping that Pearson would emerge as a solid No. 2 starter behind Hyun-Jin Ryu.  It was something of a risky move even with Pearson healthy, and his absence (even if it ends up being a somewhat short stint on the IL) now underlines the questions surrounding Toronto’s pitching.  Tanner Roark, Ross Stripling, Trent Thornton, the re-signed Robbie Ray, and new acquisition Steven Matz are all looking for bounce-back seasons, while younger arms like Anthony Kay and Thomas Hatch are still unproven at the MLB level.

If Pearson does miss time, Atkins intimated that Stripling was the favorite to step into the rotation, going from a swingman role to a starting role.  As Davidi notes, this could put Kay, Hatch, Thornton, or T.J. Zeuch in line to take over Stripling’s long man job in the bullpen, which creates further juggling down the road about how to manage innings and whether younger pitchers are best deployed as relievers or kept stretched out as rotation depth.