Nate Garkow’s career has been an interesting one.

The 27-year-old right-handed pitcher went undrafted but has made his way to Double-A this season, where he’s had good results. If you missed last week’s Under the Radar <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> prospect, we took a look at <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/under-radar-blue-jays-prospect-yondrei-rojas">Yondrei Rojas</a>.
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Garkow spent a season in Junior College before transferring to Point Loma Nazarene University, a Division II school. The righty spent three seasons there, posting a 4.30 ERA in 186.1 innings pitched. Garkow went undrafted but turned professional shortly after graduating.
In 2022, he signed with the American Association’s Sioux Falls Canaries, posting a 2.60 ERA in 26.2 innings to end the season. The 2023 season saw Garkow play with the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League, with the Acadia native posting a 3.80 ERA in 47.1 innings pitched.
Garkow started the season with the Grizzlies, where he had a 1.72 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched, striking out 37 batters for a ridiculous 21.3 K/9. I can’t find his precise strikeout rate because the Frontier League doesn’t keep track of batters faced, but Garkow likely had a K% between 55% to 62.7%.
His impressive start garnered attention from the Blue Jays organization, and they signed him to a minor league deal on Canada Day 2024. Garkow started his affiliate career with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, finishing with a 2.14 ERA and a 2.89 FIP in 21 innings pitched, with a 36.6 K% and 12.2 BB%. The righty finished his season with the Vancouver Canadians, pitching three scoreless innings.
Garkow began the 2025 season with the High-A Canadians, posting an elevated 7.56 ERA, but a much more manageable 3.96 FIP in 16.2 innings pitched. He had his rough outings throughout his High-A tenure, giving up two or more runs in five separate appearances, but his K% jumped to 39% while his BB% rose to 17.1%.
Regardless of his stats, Garkow earned a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire, where he’s taken a massive step forward. In 10.1 innings with the Fisher Cats, Garkow hasn’t allowed a run and has struck out 47.2% of batters, while walking just 8.3% of the batters he’s faced to give him a 0.91 FIP.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Nasty Nate Garkow everyone! 8 strikeouts last night to take down the <a href="https://twitter.com/GoYardGoats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GoYardGoats</a> completing the double header sweep!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeyondBaseballNH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BeyondBaseballNH</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DestinationCats?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DestinationCats</a> <a href="https://t.co/qEg2FU0grh">pic.twitter.com/qEg2FU0grh</a>
&mdash; New Hampshire Fisher Cats (@FisherCats) <a href="https://twitter.com/FisherCats/status/1928189786369450306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Garkow isn’t a hard thrower by any means, sitting in the upper-80s and low-90s, although he has <a href="https://csplusbaseball.ca/2025/04/29/cs-chat-2025-vancouver-canadians-rhp-23-nate-garkow/">solid metrics for the pitch</a>. It’s his changeup that generates so many whiffs, with a 10 mph difference from his fastball. His changeup is one of the best I’ve seen in the Jays system, alongside <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/an-overview-of-the-blue-jays-starting-pitchers-injury-timelines-heading-into-2025">Carson Pierce</a> and <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/former-toronto-blue-jays-reliever-trevor-richards-signs-milb-deal-arizona-diamondbacks">Trevor Richards</a>. Garkow also features a slider.
The changeup is already a big league pitch, and due to his age, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Garkow reach as high as Triple-A before the end of the season.
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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/author/ryley-delaney">Blue Jays Nation</a>, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/author/ryley-delaney">Oilersnation</a>, and <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/author/ryley-delaney">FlamesNation</a>. She can be followed on Twitter <a href="https://x.com/Ryley__Delaney">@Ryley__Delaney</a>.
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Nate Garkow’s career has been an interesting one.



The 27-year-old right-handed pitcher went undrafted but has made his way to Double-A this season, where he’s had good results. If you missed last week’s Under the Radar <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> prospect, we took a look at <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/under-radar-blue-jays-prospect-yondrei-rojas">Yondrei Rojas</a>.
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Garkow spent a season in Junior College before transferring to Point Loma Nazarene University, a Division II school. The righty spent three seasons there, posting a 4.30 ERA in 186.1 innings pitched. Garkow went undrafted but turned professional shortly after graduating.

In 2022, he signed with the American Association’s Sioux Falls Canaries, posting a 2.60 ERA in 26.2 innings to end the season. The 2023 season saw Garkow play with the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League, with the Acadia native posting a 3.80 ERA in 47.1 innings pitched.

Garkow started the season with the Grizzlies, where he had a 1.72 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched, striking out 37 batters for a ridiculous 21.3 K/9. I can’t find his precise strikeout rate because the Frontier League doesn’t keep track of batters faced, but Garkow likely had a K% between 55% to 62.7%.

His impressive start garnered attention from the Blue Jays organization, and they signed him to a minor league deal on Canada Day 2024. Garkow started his affiliate career with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, finishing with a 2.14 ERA and a 2.89 FIP in 21 innings pitched, with a 36.6 K% and 12.2 BB%. The righty finished his season with the Vancouver Canadians, pitching three scoreless innings.

Garkow began the 2025 season with the High-A Canadians, posting an elevated 7.56 ERA, but a much more manageable 3.96 FIP in 16.2 innings pitched. He had his rough outings throughout his High-A tenure, giving up two or more runs in five separate appearances, but his K% jumped to 39% while his BB% rose to 17.1%.

Regardless of his stats, Garkow earned a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire, where he’s taken a massive step forward. In 10.1 innings with the Fisher Cats, Garkow hasn’t allowed a run and has struck out 47.2% of batters, while walking just 8.3% of the batters he’s faced to give him a 0.91 FIP.

https://twitter.com/FisherCats/status/1928189786369450306

Garkow isn’t a hard thrower by any means, sitting in the upper-80s and low-90s, although he has <a href="https://csplusbaseball.ca/2025/04/29/cs-chat-2025-vancouver-canadians-rhp-23-nate-garkow/">solid metrics for the pitch</a>. It’s his changeup that generates so many whiffs, with a 10 mph difference from his fastball. His changeup is one of the best I’ve seen in the Jays system, alongside <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/an-overview-of-the-blue-jays-starting-pitchers-injury-timelines-heading-into-2025">Carson Pierce</a> and <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/former-toronto-blue-jays-reliever-trevor-richards-signs-milb-deal-arizona-diamondbacks">Trevor Richards</a>. Garkow also features a slider.

The changeup is already a big league pitch, and due to his age, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Garkow reach as high as Triple-A before the end of the season.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/author/ryley-delaney">Blue Jays Nation</a>, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/author/ryley-delaney">Oilersnation</a>, and <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/author/ryley-delaney">FlamesNation</a>. She can be followed on Twitter <a href="https://x.com/Ryley__Delaney">@Ryley__Delaney</a>.

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Under the Radar Blue Jays prospect: Nate Garkow

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