Pearson debuting splitter in pursuit of breakout campaign

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Nate Pearson’s career has unfolded in flashes, some of them bright enough to blind you.

In an effort to keep those lights on, he’s changed roles, tinkered with deliveries and rehabbed from what feels like a dozen different injuries. Up that mountain he goes, again and again.

In 2023, Pearson finally stayed in the big leagues long enough to unpack his suitcase. He bounced up and down between Triple-A, but gave the Blue Jays a 4.85 ERA over 42 2/3 innings. His numbers were what you see most years from a team’s eighth or ninth reliever, easy enough to forget, but this is still Nate Pearson. Even all these years removed from when Pearson was Toronto’s next big thing -- the No. 8 prospect in baseball -- it’s impossible to stop believing in his talent.

“I feel like I had a lot of highs last year, a lot of moments that were really good,” Pearson said. “Then, I had a few outings that just tanked my numbers. They were blow-up outings. If I limited those, I’d have pretty good numbers on the year.”

What happened, then? These fluctuations are part of the job for relievers, baseball’s most unpredictable commodity, but Pearson feels he can point to something more specific.

“A big thing for me that I didn’t really notice, but they noticed here, was that I was tipping a lot last year,” Pearson said. “I’m changing my glove position this year. I’ll be a little more up to my chest and close to my body. I was down here [by my belt] and then I’d come up. I would tip when I’d come up.”

That would help to explain how the towering Pearson, whose fastball averages 98 mph and touches 100, struck out just 43 batters over those 42 2/3 innings last season. That’s a fine rate, but Pearson should be capable of more than a strikeout rate of 9.1 K/9. Something in the range of Yimi García’s season (10.8 K/9) or Jordan Romano’s (11.0 K/9) should be the goal here.

Leaning so heavily on his fastball and slider, any tipping would completely undermine the element of surprise. That slider was hit hard at times and could have missed more bats, but whether you focus on Pearson’s pitch mix or his issues with tipping, there’s a common theme. He needs the hitter in the box to be less comfortable than they were in 2023, period.

That sounds like a job for a splitter.

New pitches trail closely behind “the best shape of my life” as baseball’s most overcooked spring storyline, but there’s sturdy logic behind Pearson’s new pitch, and he’s in the right company. Standing in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse Tuesday morning, he nods his head to the left where the next nameplate in the row reads “Erik Swanson.”

“I’ve been in the bullpen watching him throw his [splitter] all the time, seeing guys just not be able to touch it. It’s just baffling guys,” Pearson said. “Then, obviously [Kevin] Gausman, he’s such an outlier with his and throws his in such a unique way. It’s hard to even try to do what he’s doing. I just want to test it out and see how it goes. I like where it’s at right now.”

If this pitch is going to work -- and that “if” is written in bold until proven otherwise -- Pearson will need to incorporate it into his identity as a pitcher. He’s preferred to throw his fastball up in the zone, where its rising action works best, but now will need to spot his fastball on the lower edges, too. That’s what sets up the splitter, fooling hitters into thinking a fastball is coming until it’s too late.

Pearson will need to live in the zone, too. In a 2-0 or 3-1 count, a hitter can eliminate that splitter entirely. In an 0-1 or 1-2 count, the hitter can’t risk it, which is when you see pitchers like Gausman and Swanson turning grown men inside out with a splitter.

The big man is competing for a job this spring, but we’re past the talks of role changes and, for the first time in ages, past the talks of recent injuries. Pearson lights up when he talks about this new life as a reliever. He’s wrapped his arms around it, and while the climb keeps getting steeper, it’s still so hard to turn your eyes away from those flashes of what Pearson can be.