An overlooked former top prospect could be the X-factor for the Cubs' pitching staff

It wasn't that long ago that when you were talking about the best pitching prospects in Major League Baseball, Nate Pearson's name was sure to come up.

Heading into the 2021 season, MLB Pipeline not only had Pearson as one of the best young arms in the game, but one of the top 10 prospects, period. A first-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays back in 2017 out of the College of Central Florida, the right-hander was supposed to be the next big thing for the Jays.

The fact he came to the Chicago Cubs in a widely overlooked deadline deal last summer tells you how that plan went for Toronto. In parts of four seasons there, Pearson was a -1.0 bWAR player, working to a 5.21 ERA and 1.461 WHIP in just 115 big-league innings. Control issues proved to be a major hurdle for him and now, at age 28, he's trying to get things back on track with a new organization.

Pearson pitched well down the stretch for Chicago in 2024, with a dramatically improved walk rate (1.4 BB/9) - and he's shown a lot of promise this spring, headlined by his relief appearance in Friday's exhibition matchup against the Hanshin Tigers in Japan, when he busted out an overpowering fastball at 100 MPH.

What's always made him so intriguing isn't the fastball velocity (though, admittedly, that doesn't hurt) - the stuff has always been there. He knows how to attack hitters, mixing in his complimentary offerings well. It's just been an issue hitting his spots. If the changes he made after coming to the Cubs last summer stuck and he's been able to build on them over the offseason, this could be the make-or-break guy on this pitching staff.

He's capable of starting, but he's got all the makings of a true shutdown relief weapon - something that's a bit of a scarcity in Craig Counsell's bullpen. Rookie Porter Hodge was lights-out last year, but you need to see him do it again before pushing all your chips in there and the veteran additions were badly needed - but Pearson definitely carries the highest upside of the group if you're talking pure stuff.

We haven't even kicked off the regular season yet, but that makes it the time of hope - for drinking the tea, if you will. As for me, I'll keep sipping on the 'Matthew Boyd and Nate Pearson are going to be dudes' variety - at least until that dream shatters all around me.