Toronto Blue Jays lefty Kai Peterson shines in Arizona Fall League Fall Stars game

Blue Jays prospect Kai Peterson was named to the American League roster of the Fall Stars game on Friday as their lone representative for the 19th annual edition of the showcase on Sunday at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz.

Peterson pitched to a 3.04 ERA with 61 strikeouts and 29 walks over 50 1/3 innings split between High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire.

The 23-year-old earned the bump from the Canadians to the Fisher Cats in mid-August after allowing only one run and striking out 19 batters in his final 18 2/3 innings in Double-A.

Peterson threw 14 pitches, six of which were for strikes. Only two of those pitches were sliders, generating no swings.

The rest of his pitches were sinkers, with the pitch averaging a tick over 91 mph. It generated five total swings, but Peterson failed to get a batter to whiff.

Peterson got an inning-ending 6-4 double play to work around a pair of walks in a scoreless frame in last night's Arizona Fall League's Fall-Star Game.

Drafted in the 20th round of the 2023 amateur draft, Peterson has an interesting profile for a reliever. He doesn't have overpowering stuff; instead, he uses a five-pitch mix to keep hitters off balance out of the bullpen.

Peterson does throw his sinker, which averages 92.8 m.p.h. - the majority of the time, and mixes in a slider, curveball, changeup and four-seam fastball.

It will be interesting to see how Peterson does in New Hampshire this year. If he keeps pitching as consistently as he has done so far, he will be in Triple-A Buffalo in no time.