‘He still has some work to do.’ Blue Jays demote top prospect Nate Pearson after one wild start

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This article was published 11/05/2021 (1647 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nate Pearson’s return to the major leagues proved to be a short stay after the Blue Jays optioned the hard-throwing righty to Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday afternoon.

Pearson was officially sent down two days after he struggled to repeat his delivery and experienced command issues during a 7-4 loss to the Houston Astros. The 24-year-old allowed three runs on four hits and five walks while throwing just 28 of his 64 pitches for strikes across 2 1/3 innings.

Tuesday’s heel turn by the organization came as a surprise, but even more surprising was the Jays’ initial decision to promote him after just one start for Triple-A Buffalo. After missing the first month of the season with a groin injury, Pearson was activated and made one appearance that lasted 3 2/3 innings before getting the call to join the Jays.

“One of the main reasons we called him up, his spot was the one that we needed for that day,” said manager Charlie Montoyo, who has been trying to piece together a pitching staff amid a slew of injuries. “As you know, our bullpen was thin, and we needed him and (Anthony) Kay to cover some innings. That was one of the main reasons why we brought him up. The main reason we sent him down was because we wanted him to get more consistency, coming off his injury.

“He made some strides in his first Triple-A outing, but he still has some work to do. The sky is the limit. The one thing about this kid, it almost reminds me of (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.). The expectations were so high, but he’ll be all right. He just needs to pitch more in the minor leagues and he’ll be all right.”

With the return to Buffalo, Pearson should get some stability to work through his issues away from the pressure of the majors. The Jays have not committed to a set number of days for their No. 1 prospect to remain in the minors, but it’s unrealistic to expect his problems to be solved overnight. He’ll likely miss at least a small handful of big-league starts, possibly more.

One reason to believe that Pearson will be able to turn things around is that he has never really experienced command issues in the past. Walks were not a problem for him at any level until he arrived in the big leagues last season and handed out 13 in 18 innings. At times his delivery appeared to be flying open too early, and he might have been guilty of overthrowing in search of that upper-90s velocity.

“Some prospects take longer, some take less time,” said Montoyo, whose team recalled reliever Jeremy Beasley in a corresponding move. “Who knows how long it’s going to take him. He’s never had problems in the minor leagues. For some reason when he comes to the big leagues, he’s had problems locating his fastball. All his pitches, actually. Who knows how long it’s going to take, but we know one thing: Whenever he gets it he’s going to be a big-league starter for a long time.”

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Montoyo suggested that Kay is the logical replacement for Pearson when that spot in the rotation comes up again on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies. Kay has made a pair of starts for the Jays this season and has a 10.24 ERA in 9 2/3 innings of work.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca