DUNEDIN, FLA.—The Blue Jays host an early camp each year for their top prospects at the Bobby Mattick Training Centre before the full minor-league camp gets underway. It combines invitations to the highest-rated players in the system, plus guys who have reported to Florida early and want to take part.

Under the watchful eye of minor-league director Gil Kim, 13 of the top 30 Jays’ prospects, according to Baseball America, were at this year’s camp with another 12 top rookie players down the street working with major-leaguers.

Most visitors’ eyes on this day were drawn toward third baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr. and shortstop Bo Bichette, ranked 1-2 in the system.

However, the highest-ranked pitcher in the farm system is undeniably 21-year-old right-hander Nate Pearson, a 2017 draft selection (28th overall), who made seven starts in Vancouver on the way to the rookie-level Northwest League title. He posted a 0.58 WHIP and held opponents to a .097 average. He pitched the deciding game in front of the organization’s top executives and dozens of scouts. Watch him closely.

“A bunch of us were there for that playoff series against Spokane,” Kim recalled. “First of all, a lot of things going on. Nat Bailey (Stadium) 6,000 strong, it’s ‘O Canada,’ everybody standing. It was an electric atmosphere.

“But Pearson striking out the side in the first inning and screaming in his glove, everyone going crazy, is something that a lot of us are going to remember. And when we see him in Toronto doing the same thing, it’s going to be pretty cool. It was exciting to see, an exciting combination of performance, ability and makeup.”

Pearson throws a late-moving fastball in the high 90s, a major-league-ready slider and a changeup that clocks in at 89 or 90 m.p.h., which he would have used more except the league hitters didn’t catch up with his fastball. He loved Vancouver.

“I couldn’t tell you how great it was in my first pro season to be on a team like that, just winning a lot and being able to take home a championship,” Pearson said. “I’d never imagined my first pro season being like that. It was awesome. I found very similar qualities in Canada as in the U.S. Half the time I forgot I was in a whole different country. They’re so similar. They’re both so great.”

The organization sees a lot of similarities between the rise of Aaron Sanchez to the Jays and the coming charge to the top of Pearson. While Pearson seems a little anxious to hasten the process — buoyed by his success, hoping to be placed at High-A Dunedin when camp breaks — Sanchez slowed him down.

The Texas-born and Tampa-raised Pearson was paired with Sanchez in workouts at the minor-league complex in January, and the Jays’ hard-throwing right-hander gave him solid advice to heed as he rises through the system — perhaps even if he begins 2018 in Class-A Lansing, as Sanchez did in his second season.

“He kind of described what it was like for him coming up through the system, how it might be similar to my path,” Pearson recalled. “It was great talking to him and picking his brain. He just told me what he went through.

“He told me not to get ahead of myself, just be in the now, not think about the future the whole time. Focus on where you’re at now. Enjoy the stops that you make in Vancouver, or Lansing, Dunedin. Take mental pictures of where you’re at now, so when you do make it to the top you’re able to look back and enjoy.”

One of Pearson’s major goals in 2018, whether he begins the year at Lansing or Dunedin, is to show the organization that he can throw 100 to 120 pitches in a start and maintain his stamina and velocity. The Jays often ease in their top draft picks by holding their pitch count down the first two seasons, like they did with Sanchez and his then-teammate Noah Syndergaard at Lansing. When Syndergaard was traded to the Mets, they accelerated his progress and he reached the majors as a starter well before the Jays righty did. Pearson is confident he can show the Jays stamina this year.

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“As a starter you have to have in the back of your head that you’re planning on going nine innings, and that your pitch count is going to be upwards of 100,” Pearson said. “You have to focus in on that and not waste all your bullets in the first and the second. You kind of have to pace yourself. It’s kind of a marathon.”

If his upward curve continues, Pearson may be able to join his mentor Sanchez and Marcus Stroman in the major-league rotation some time in 2019. All the talk is about Guerrero and Bichette, but pay attention to Pearson.

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