Nate Pearson can’t catch a break.

Last year, the fireballer suffered an injury in spring training and didn’t return until May. A week later, he came up and got rocked in his first outing with the Blue Jays, got sent down, took a few weeks to find his groove, and then got injured again. Pearson would wind up missing a month of action mid-season and finished 2021 pitching out of the bullpen.

This year, Pearson was limited to just two outings in Grapefruit play due to an illness. Charlie Montoyo confirmed on Tuesday that Pearson won’t start the season with the Blue Jays as he’ll miss an extended period of time due to a bout with mono.

It’s difficult to put a timetable on a return from mono, which results in people feeling extreme fatigue, fever, and body aches for usually about two-to-four weeks, though some continue to feel symptoms of the illness for months.

Pearson, who turns 26 in August, figured to be a part of the Blue Jays bullpen this season, either as a high-leverage reliever or a hybrid type who could pitch multiple innings after an opener. While he’s struggled when taking on a starter’s load, the hope was that Pearson could thrive by taking on fewer innings.

It’s difficult to say what the right move is with Pearson. The upside is so incredibly high but various issues always seem to get in the way of him finding his groove.

In other news…

That would mean this is Toronto’s bullpen out of camp: Jordan Romano, Adam Cimber, Trevor Richards, Tim Mayza, David Phelps, Yimi Garcia, Ross Stripling, Trent Thornton, Tayler Saucedo, and Julian Merryweather.

I would assume that Ryan Borucki is going on the Injured List and Saucedo is his replacement, while Thornton is the replacement for Pearson.