Blue Jays: Top Five Moments Of The 2020 Season

Another long awaited debut

(5) Nate Pearson makes his MLB debut (7/29/20)

After key minor league graduations from Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio in 2019, the Jays put the cherry on top in 2020, calling up the best power pitching prospect in baseball, Nate Pearson. In his debut, Pearson tossed five scoreless innings against the great Max Scherzer and the Nationals.

Nate Pearson’s repertoire includes a flaming fastball that sits in the upper 90s, a hard change-up in the upper 80s, and a wipeout slider in the mid to upper 80s. When coupling his repertoire with his athletic 6 ft 6, 250 lb frame, it’s hard not to envision Pearson as a dominant starter in the big leagues at some point in the near future. He has shredded minor league hitters and it’s only a matter of time before Pearson comes into his own and starts mowing down major league hitters on a consistent basis.

Despite a pretty solid debut, Nate Pearson’s velocity and overall command was underwhelming in his first season. This is likely attributable to the elbow injury that would land him on the IL after his first four starts. He was throwing an easy 101mph in summer camp so his underlying injury when he was called up would be the only reasonable justification for his underwhelming velocity to start the season. By the time the playoffs came around, his average was back up in the upper 90s. In his lone playoff appearance, he was in complete control with his fastball, striking out five in 2.0 innings and not allowing a single baserunner.

Fans shouldn’t be overly concerned with the lack of an attractive stat line from Pearson this season. In his lone four starts, it was clear that he was battling through injury and one could hardly gauge the long term success of a player based on such a small sample size. Nate Pearson is here to stay and Blue Jays fans should be excited.