Blue Jays Early Impressions: Nate Pearson

The 6-foot-6, a once-promising starting prospect and now likely in the bullpen for good, has made four appearances for Buffalo in the opening days of the 2023 season. He is currently sporting a record of 0-1 (who cares) with an ERA of 4.50. While not a terrible ERA, it is very missing leading. Nate owns a 1.61FIP and 2.06xFIP with an 18.00K/9 and a 6.75BB/9.

Opponents have faired better than they should on balls in play with a .429BABIP. Definitely, a number that should drop as Pearson gets more innings. Opponents have been unable to make much hard contact or put many balls in the air with a 71.4GB% and 0.00HR/9IP.

March 31st was Nate Pearson‘s first appearance of 2023. He threw 20 pitches, 14 4-seam fastballs, 5 curveballs, and a slider. The average mph per pitch was 80.1 for his curve and 97.6 for his FB with his max fastball hitting 99.9mph. 11 of his 20 pitches were thrown in the zone. Batters only swung at 8 of his 20 pitches (40% swing rate), taking 12 pitches. 9 of his 20 pitches resulted in strikes with 5 being called strikes and 4 swinging strikes. Of the 4 pitches the opponent made contact, only one resulted in a base hit with the other 3 resulting in a foul ball. That one hit was a line drive but not a hard-hit line drive.

Pitching Line- 1IP, 1H, 3K.

April 2nd- Big Nate threw 23 pitches, 15 FB, 5 curveballs, and 3 sliders. His curve averaged 79.7mph with his fastball coming in at 97.5 and his slider coming in at 87.3. He threw 10 pitches in the strike zone with 6 coming off his FB, 3 from his curve, and one from his slider. Batters only swung at 7 of Pearson’s 23 pitches. Of those 7 pitches, 5 were called strikes and 2 were swinging strikes. Batters made contact on 5 of those pitches, hitting two foul balls, an out, and two base hits. No batter hit a ball hard again with two ground balls.

Pitching Line- 1.0IP, 0H, 1BB, 1K

April 7th- Things did not go well for the big righty in this one. Pearson failed to get out of the inning, throwing 23 pitches while registering two outs. He threw 15 fastballs, 5 curves, and 3 sliders. He averaged 97.5mph on his fastball, 79.7mph on his curveball, and 87.3mph on his slider. 10 of his 23 pitches were in the strike zone. Batters swung at 7 of Nate Pearson’s pitches, taking 16 pitches. 5 pitches were called strikes, and 2 were swinging strikes. Batters made contact on 5 of his pitches with 2 base hits, 2 foul balls, and one hit for an out. For the 3rd straight outing, no batter managed to hit Pearson hard with 2 ground balls and no line drives. Unfortunately, his two wild pitches really hurt him.

Pitching Line- 0.2IP, 2H, 2R, 2BB, 1K

April 9th- Nate threw 20 pitches, throwing just his FB and slider during this outing. His FB topped out at 99.8mph and averaged 98.8mph. His slider averaged 83.8mph. Pearson threw 9 pitches in the strikezone, 6 FB and 3 slider, with batters swinging at 8 of his 20 pitches. 4 of his pitches were called strikes and 5 strikes were swinging strikes. The Red Sox made contact on 3 of his 20 pitches, hitting a pair foul and one for an out. The one ball hit was a ground ball and wasn’t a hard hit ball.

Pitching Line- 1.1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K

In four appearances, Nate Pearson has walked 3 batters while striking out 8. 59% of his pitches have been thrown for strikes, using 18.75 pitches per 9IP and 4.167 pitches per plate appearance. Let’s not count Pearson out just yet.