Blue Jays' Pearson having encouraging Dominican Winter League run

 Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Nate Pearson is wrapping up an encouraging stint in the Dominican Winter League, per TSN Blue Jays Reporter Scott Mitchell.

Through 11 innings of relief work pitched in the league, Pearson has a 0.82 ERA with four walks and 15 strikeouts. He's allowed a total of five hits during that span.

Pearson, 26, has ranked as high as number eight in 2020 on MLB Pipeline's annual Top Prospects list, but he has struggled with injuries since being drafted in the first round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Blue Jays. 

In 2018, Pearson broke his arm on a comebacker, in 2020 he dealt with a flexor strain, and in 2021 it was a hernia that forced him to miss time. In 2022, Pearson missed the start of action with mononucleosis, before a lat strain in June ended his season without an inning pitched in the majors. 

The only professional season in which Pearson pitched more than 100 innings was in 2019, when he threw 101.2 innings and dazzled with a 2.30 earned runs average and 119 strikeouts. 

Pearson showed off the best of ability in the 2020 Wild Card series against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he pitched two innings in relief and struck out five of the six batters he faced with a fastball that touched 101 miles per hour. 

Across 17 career MLB games, five of which were starts, Pearson has a 5.18 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched.