Nolan Perry’s breakout may give Blue Jays another homegrown rotation option sooner than expected

The Toronto Blue Jays have a fair number of pitchers entering free agency this winter. Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber, Jameson Taillon, Paul Sewald and Yimi Garcia all fall into that category. That means the Blue Jays will have quite a few holes to fill ahead of next season.

However, there may already be one potential internal solution that could surprisingly work its way into the Blue Jays’ pitching plans for 2027. Top pitching prospect Nolan Perry might have an outside chance of taking one of those roster spots.

He's an elite, promising young arm that is coming off a stellar campaign in the minors this past season. In fact, Perry was so impressive that he was named one of the finalists for the 2026 Minor League Baseball Breakout Player of the Year Award.

Is Blue Jays' Nolan Perry on a fast track to the majors?

Not only did the 23-year-old right-hander ascend three minor league levels this season, he did so by posting fantastic numbers at each level. Perry registered a sparkling 1.71 ERA and 0.67 WHIP, while giving up just one home run and striking out 32 batters in 21 innings pitched over five appearances with Single-A Dunedin to begin the year.

He moved up to High-A Vancouver, and continued to put up solid numbers. The right-hander went 3-3 with a 3.23 ERA mark and 1.24 WHIP, with 46 strikeouts in 30.2 innings pitched over seven starts.

With his final promotion to Double-A New Hampshire, Perry showed he didn't look out of place there either. He compiled a tidy 2.32 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, yielding just 17 hits with 39 strikeouts in 31 innings of work over nine starts.

His season totals stand out. He collectively posted a 2.50 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, with 32 walks and 117 strikeouts in 82.2 innings pitched over 21 appearances. With those impressive numbers, it’s no wonder that he would finish the season as the Blue Jays’ No. 2 ranked top prospect in the system and crack the top 100 MLB prospects list, according to MLB Pipeline.

It's very likely that Perry will begin the 2027 campaign with the Triple-A Buffalo to start the year. But we wouldn't be surprised if he gets moved up quickly after a few appearances. Of course that would also mean the Blue Jays run into injury troubles again or some under-performing arms in the big leagues - but we'll keep this as a positive focused story for now.

He could also join Trey Yesavage as the next wave of young, homegrown pitching talent to anchor the Blue Jays rotation for years to come. This line of thinking could also help the Blue Jays' offseason plans. If they believe he could play a role in Toronto next year, they might not need to look as hard as before to find potential solutions for their starting rotation. Though as we saw this season, you can never truly have enough big league pitching.

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