6 Blue Jays who could be playing their way out of the team’s 2024 plans

Nate Pearson

In the case for Nate Pearson, you have to feel sorry for him because he ran into many injury troubles in the past few years that have pushed his once promising career off-track. For this season, Pearson finally had a clean bill of health and was all set to show everyone what he could really do to contribute to the Jays' organization.

After being called up from Buffalo in late April, he was dynamite as in his first 17 games, he went 4-0 with an impressive 1.96 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, giving up only five earned runs, five walks and 26 strikeouts over 23 innings pitched. It was probably the most dominant stretch we had seen Pearson since donning a Jays’ uniform for his career.

However, it has been a completely different story for him in his next 15 appearances, as he began to struggle mightily with his command and has resulted in many hitters getting on base. During this stretch, he has compiled a gaudy 10.13 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, giving up 18 earned runs, 10 walks and 13 strikeouts in just 16 innings of work. It had gotten so bad that he was sent back down to the minors recently, before being recalled as a result of Hagen Danner’s injury.

Pearson will need to prove that he can regain his dominant form earlier in the year to help the ballclub down the stretch and maintain his spot on the MLB roster for the rest of this year and beyond. The Jays’ faithful have been patient all these years for the former first round pick, but the patience may be growing thin if he doesn’t turn things around soon.