Nate Pearson

Blue Jays right-hander Nate Pearson was recently placed back on the minor league injured list due to a groin strain — his second IL placement for the injury in 2021. It appears there’s some difficulty in ascertaining the root of the issue, as Jays CEO Mark Shapiro said today on Sportsnet 590 that Pearson is headed for what will be a fourth opinion on the injury (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Arash Madani).

Pearson, 24, has been one of the prized prospects in the the organization for the past four years. Selected with the No. 28 pick back in 2017, Pearson dominated in 2019 to the point that he was not only considered the Blue Jays’ best pitching prospect, but one of the premier pitching prospects in all of baseball.  Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs all listed Pearson as one of the sport’s top ten minor leaguers prior to the 2020 campaign, and he garnered similar fanfare heading into 2021.

Pearson made his big league debut in 2020, firing five shutout innings against the Nationals and flashing a triple-digit heater which he complemented with a plus slider (and less-utilized changeups and curves). Elbow tightness sent him to the injured list just a few starts later, however, and Pearson wound up pitching just 18 innings during his debut campaign as the Jays took a cautious approach with their prized young righty.

Injuries have been a persistent source of frustration for Pearson, though some of his troubles have been rather fluky in nature. He suffered a fractured forearm in his first minor league start of the 2018 season when he was hit by a comeback liner, only to later sustain an oblique strain while rehabbing that injury. That pair of issues limited him to just 1 2/3 innings that season, and it’s now looking as though another set of injuries will significantly hamper his workload in 2021. Pearson has tallied just 27 innings overall so far in 2021.

Another injury-marred season is surely disheartening for Pearson, and it’s also likely thrown a bit of a wrench into the Blue Jays’ expectations. Pearson likely would’ve been on some type of innings limit in 2021, but he still reported to camp seen as an MLB-ready option in the rotation.

Pearson’s injuries and the early struggles of Tanner Roark — which prompted the right-hander’s release — have left the Jays with a rotation that probably doesn’t look quite like they envisioned but has still been solid. Steven Matz is currently out after testing positive for Covid-19, but he’s given the Jays 69 2/3 innings of 4.26 ERA ball. Fellow southpaw Robbie Ray is enjoying an excellent rebound campaign on a one-year deal, while righty Ross Stripling has stepped up as a dependable option. The Jays’ second-ranked pitching prospect, Alek Manoah, has been quite good in three of his five outings since his own MLB debut a month ago.

Combined with top starter Hyun Jin Ryu, the quartet of Matz, Ray, Stripling and Manoah gives the Jays a solid enough starting five for the time being. That said, as is the case with Pearson, Manoah is surely someone whose workload the Blue Jays will want to monitor. Matz threw just 30 2/3 innings last season, while Stripling (49 1/3) and Ray (51 2/3) also had fairly light workloads even by 2020 standards.

The Jays have some depth at the moment. Anthony Kay is starting tonight’s game, and down in Triple-A, the trio of Jacob Waguespack, T.J. Zeuch and Nick Allgeyer has thrown reasonably well. But the Blue Jays are lacking veteran arms with an established track record, making rotation help a logical target as the trade deadline approaches. GM Ross Atkins has already acknowledged a desire to add bullpen help and perhaps a left-handed bat, but the newfound uncertainty surrounding Pearson likely enhances the need for some innings in the rotation as well.

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.