Canadians' Pearson holds Volcanoes hitless

After shouldering a heavy workload in college, Nate Pearson has made the most of the limited amount of opportunities he's been afforded in his first month with Class A Short Season Vancouver.
On Sunday afternoon, the Blue Jays' No. 8 eighth-ranked prospect faced the minimum over three hitless innings in the Canadians' 5-4 win over Salem-Keizer at Nat Bailey Stadium. He matched his previous total with Vancouver with six strikeouts and issued one walk.

"I was able to command [my fastball] pretty well," Pearson said, "going in and out on batters, and also my changeup was pretty effective against left-handed hitters. I had a pretty good mix going. I was able to beat hitters."
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After being selected 28th overall in this year's Draft, Pearson made one appearance in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League -- allowing a hit and striking out a pair in one inning -- before moving up to Vancouver. The 20-year-old has yet to surrender a run in four Northwest League starts, yielding five hits over nine innings.
"Every time I go out, my fastball has been working. I'm able to just challenge guys and they haven't really been able to hit it," Pearson said. "Not giving up a run is nice and everything, but I'm just trying to get work on my pitches."
The Florida native threw 31 of 47 pitches for strikes on Sunday in his first game under a three-inning limit after being restricted to two frames in his first four outings. Pearson said the team plans to stretch him to five innings before the playoffs begin next month.
The right-hander threw 33 1/3 innings in his freshman season at Florida International in 2016, recording a 2.70 ERA and 33 strikeouts before transferring to the Junior College of Central Florida. In 13 starts with the Patriots this year, Pearson had a 1.56 ERA while fanning 118 over 81 innings.

The 6-foot-6, 245-pounder has a heavy fastball that sits in the upper 90s and he's shown developing command for a changeup, curveball and slider.  
"My changeup is definitely my second-best pitch; it's kind of my go-to against left-handers," he said. "My curveball is getting a lot better than my slider. My slider is still progressing along very nicely, but I'd say my changeup has definitely taken off. I think it's the consistency of working on them is what's got them better."
Pearson struck out Malique Ziegler looking before getting No. 30 Giants prospect Bryce Johnson and Logan Baldwin to go down swinging in a perfect first. Ryan Kirby lined to right after a seven-pitch battle to start the second and Pearson produced back-to-back strikeouts of Orlando Garcia and Shane Matheny to get through the second.
Junior Amion started the third by lining out to right and Pearson walked Dylan Manwaring before striking out Tyler Brown on three pitches. Manwaring got caught napping by Vancouver backstop Riley Adams, the 17th-ranked Blue Jays prospect, and was picked off to end the inning and Pearson's outing.
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Brayden Bouchey replaced Pearson to start the fourth and surrendered a leadoff homer to Ziegler. Orlando Pascual struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.
Samad Taylor contributed an RBI double in the fourth and Bryan Lizardo capped a four-run sixth with an RBI single to left for Vancouver. Lizardo finished 2-for-2 with a walk.