Toronto Blue Jays: 3 storylines to follow during 2020 season

What is the ceiling for Nate Pearson?

Nate Pearson will pitch for the Blue Jays this season, but there has been a raging debate on the team’s decision to not include him on the opening day roster.

From a talent standpoint, Pearson deserves to be pitching in the majors but when you considering the business implications, the system does not favour him. It makes too much sense for the team to hold him back for a week to gain an extra year of service time.

Baseball players that are upset about teams “abusing service time” need to realize that they are the only ones who can change it. They can try to change it in the upcoming CBA but you can bet the current players won’t care as much about something that doesn’t directly impact them anymore (as most will have moved past that point).

The Blue Jays also know that the team can’t waste a year of Pearson’s development by not having him face live hitters this season. This is why he will be included in the pitching rotation and it will likely be as a starter, it’s just a matter of who gets bumped when that time comes.

We got a taste of what to expect from the 23-year-old against in the exhibition start he had against the Boston Red Sox. There were some nervous moments in the beginning but once he figured things out, it was a better outing.

At his age, Pearson won’t be close to his ceiling as a potential ace of the staff but getting him started on that track will be important.