C’s Chat – 2024 Vancouver Canadians LHP #3 Kai Peterson – C's Plus Baseball

We make the call to the bullpen for the latest C’s Chat with 2024 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Kai Peterson.

It is fitting that a pitcher known for piling up the Ks has a first name that begins with a K. The Citrus Heights, California native had an early setback when he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020 at Oakmont High School in Roseville. That came after Peterson earned Second Team Cal-Hi Sports All-State honours after contributing to Oakmont’s CIF (California Interscholastice Federation) Sac-Joaquin Section Division II title after a 30-3 season in 2019.

In 2022, Peterson went to junior college with the Sacramento City College Panthers and won all four of his decisions with a 2.70 earned run average. He struck out 23 batters in 23-1/3 innings of relief but walked 24. It looked for a while that Peterson was going to Division I by committing to Rice University but he wound up switching teams in the Big 8 California Conference by attending Sierra College. He made 16 starts with the Panthers and compiled a record of 9-2 with a 3.86 ERA and a strikeout-walk total of 127-62 in 84 innings.

The Toronto Blue Jays would select Peterson with its final pick of the 2023 MLB Draft in the 20th round on the recommendation of Southern California/Taiwan scout Tony Cho. Peterson reported to Dunedin for draft camp but he would not make his pro debut until 2024 as the Jays opted not to put any more competitive innings on his arm.

The 2024 campaign saw Peterson improve on his 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings from Sierra by nearly five with Low-A Dunedin. He struck out three over two shutout innings against Lakeland in his pro debut on April 6 and he fanned five more to earn his first professional win at Tampa on April 11. That set the tone for April in which he struck out 19 batters and walked seven over 9-2/3 innings to go with a 2-0 record and a 2.79 ERA. In May, he won three of four decisions and struck out 20 batters over another 9-23 innings, but three multi-run outings in a row hurt his monthly ERA. June marked a turnaround for Peterson as he sat down 24 batters and walked eight over 12 innings to go along with a 2.50 ERA. He picked up his first professional save by striking out five batters over two scoreless innings at Bradenton on June 12.

After 63 strikeouts over 31-1/3 innings with Low-A Dunedin, Peterson was promoted to Vancouver on July 2. He made his debut against Everett on July 3 and followed that up by striking out the side in a shutout inning in a win at Eugene on July 9. Peterson settled in the C’s bullpen nicely in August with six scoreless outings out of nine, earning his first Northwest League save with three strikeouts in a scoreless stanza against Eugene on August 10. He went on to strike out another 17 batters over 9-2/3 innings for a 2.79 ERA in August.

In September, Peterson finished his year with three scoreless appearances, including a perfect inning with a strikeout in Game 3 of the Northwest League Championship Series at Spokane on September 13.

C’s Plus Baseball spoke with the 22-year-old Peterson during the team’s final regular season homestand against Eugene last September. This interview has been edited for clarity.

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C’s Plus Baseball – You got drafted by the Blue Jays in the 2023 draft out of Sierra Junior College. What was the draft experience was like for you?

Kai Peterson – It was pretty crazy. I thought I was going to end up being a day-two guy but it kind of fell through. I ended up getting a lot of calls on day three, and then the Blue Jays were just the team that got me.

CPB – Did you have any inkling beforehand that the Blue Jays were interested in you?

KP – Kind of. I kind of thought I was going to other teams too. There were a few teams that drafted after the Blue Jays that were going to pick me, but they got me before them, I guess.

CPB – Were you at home when you heard the news that you were a Blue Jay?

KP – Yeah, I was at home with my family, my grandparents. We were kind of just hanging out, waiting for the call. Then Tony Cho called me, asked if I’d sign for that money. I said, ‘Yeah,’ and that’s how it went through.

CPB – You make your way to the east coast and take part in draft camp. What was that experience like, getting introduced to what life in pro ball is like?

KP – It was pretty cool. I didn’t get a huge taste of it last year. I didn’t play. So it was a lot of just training, working out at the Complex. It was cool just being around all the guys. Everybody’s a professional at this level so there’ s a lot to learn from.

CPB – I know sometimes the Blue Jays tend to shut pitchers down after they get drafted, usually due to innings workload. What was that like seeing some of your members of the draft class get to play some games and you could only watch from the sidelines?

KP – It was still cool to watch like all the guys do their thing. It was just really fun to see how other guys went about their business and how they performed on a day-to-day basis.

CPB – Would you say kind of seeing what was going on and getting a sneak preview helped you in how to go about preparing for (2024)?

KP – Yeah, it definitely helped me. Seeing the big league rehab guys, Adam Cimber in there, seeing how much intent and detail they took day to day, through their prep, lifting, throwing program, everything. I think that set me up pretty well for the offseason to carry that big league intent.

CPB – You got to spend a fair amount of time at the Player Development Complex. Would you say there’s maybe something you maybe learned about yourself there? Maybe with your mechanics, your pitch release or all the things they can measure these days?

KP – I always kind of knew I had a good fastball, but then like all the analytics and stuff really solidified it, showing that I have one of the lowest vertical approach angles in pretty much all of baseball. Just not a lot of guys throw a fastball like mine, so it helped like solidifying that. It’s a really good pitch.

CPB – Speaking of pitches, what is it that you are throwing?

KP – Just fastball/slider pretty much, that’s it.

CPB – Four-seam fastball?

KP – Yeah, four-seam right now.

CPB – The slider, did anyone teach you that or did you figure out a certain grip?

KP – Yeah, I came into the season with a slurvish curveball type thing and it was too big off of my fastball so Cory (pitching coach Cory Riordan) down in Dunedin helped me a lot trying to figure out a true slider and then ABD (C’s pitching coach Austin Bibens-Dirkx) and CP (C’s bullpen coach Carson Phillips) here helped a lot with that too in really fine-tuning it.

CPB – You started out with Dunedin and certainly racked up a good number of K’s. What was your first pro experience like pitching with the Dunedin Blue Jays?

KP It was fun. It’s kind of a hard league, there’s a lot of young prospects in it so you’re facing some good young guys every night but it’s still a hard league even though they’re young.

CPB – You’re from the West Coast but how was it pitching in the heat of Florida?

KP – Yeah, that humidity, it’s not fun at all compared to the dry heat over here. I’m just dying every nigiht.

CPB – When you got word from you were going to Vancouver, how did you find out about it? I know the coaches like to have a little fun with it sometimes when telling players about the promotion. Do they do anything like that with you?

KP – We were in a rain delay and then Mayorga (Dunedin manager José Mayorga) comes in, has a team meeting, kind of explains the game’s canceled today and stuff like that. We were in Lakeland and he goes, ‘But one guy’s not going to be here tomorrow.’ It was me and then I packed my bags and was out of there the next day.

CPB – How did you feel when you got news of the promotion, your first one as a professional?

KP – I was really happy. It’s something I was working towards. It was my goal to get promoted during the year. I think it’s a pretty hard thing to do, so it was a big goal of mine coming into the season.

CPB – What it’s like pitching here in Vancouver where there are a few more fans than Dunedin?

KP – It’s a lot more fun pitching here with all the fans. Pretty much close to a sold out crowd every night it seems like. It’s a lot more fun and the fans will always have our backs.

CPB – Is there a really big adrenaline surge for you when you know you get to pitch in front of 5,000-6,000 people a night?

KP – It was for the first game but then then after that, I think I do a pretty good job of tuning it out.

CPB – I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie ‘For Love of the Game’ with Kevin Costner, but is it kind of like that where it’s kind of a blur, you “clear the mechanism” and then all the crowd noise disappears. Is it something similar to that where you don’t really hear the crowd after a while?

KP – Yeah, pretty much. I’d say it’s kind of just that way especially if you want to pitch at a high level, you can’t have the crowd affect you that much.

CPB – Transitioning to the bullpen, how’s that been going for you?

KP – It’s been a lot of fun. I kind of figured that was gonna happen no matter what team I went to just due to striking out a lot of guys. It’s a high pitch count inning every inning so it’s been a lot of fun.

CPB – The one thing about seeing you pitch is you have a very unique delivery where (the batter) clearly see your number three on the back of your jersey. How did you develop that delivery?

KP – I was messing around in a bullpen one day last year during the season and Josh Hader is always a guy that I’ve looked up to and I just tried it. I was like sitting 88 (miles per hour) in that bullpen. Then I just tried throwing like Hader for one pitch and it was 92 and the next pitch was 93 and so it’s kind of just stuck.

CPB – Are there just certain keys you look for in your delivery? Do you really have to think a lot when you’re out there on the mound and just trying to focus and get everything aligned just right?

KP – Kind of. It’s been that way for a little bit. There’s spurts you go through where nothing’s clicking and there’s spurts where everything’s clicking. So it kind of depends on the point in time, I guess.

CPB – If you had to give a scouting report of yourself, how would you describe yourself?

KP – I think I’m just going to attack hitters, do what I do best, and good luck to the hitters.

CPB – Turning back the clock, when did you first get started in baseball and when did you first become a pitcher?

KP – I want to say I played baseball since five or six, whenever the typical time is. I kind of pitched my whole life. I became a pitcher only in my junior year of high school. Just because we had a really good hitting team. And I kind of saw the future, like, I’m not going to hit in college. So, yeah, I became a pitcher then.

CPB – You decided to go to the junior college route. What was that like?

KP – It was a lot of fun. You find a lot of guys that are really grinding there that will do whatever it takes. And I think it builds a lot of character, too, just because you don’t have the nicest stuff. You don’t have all the luxuries that the big programs have.

CPB – Is there anybody who’s really helped you out along the way either in junior college or high school? Who’s really helped you get to this point?

KP – My pitching coach in junior college, Tommy Sleva, he helped me a lot. Then I think in the last year or this year, it’s been Cory and then ABD and CP have helped me a lot just from throwing more strikes and getting everything in the zone.

CPB – Was there a special moment either in college or high school that stands out as your best memory?

KP – I think my favourite memory was my junior year of high school we won the section championship. It was a really cool group to win with. I think a lot of guys were still playing baseball that day. We had me and another guy get drafted from that team so that was really cool.

CPB – Who was that?

KP – (Pitcher) TJ Nichols, he’s with the Rays (2023 6th round pick, University of Arizona).

CPB – Did you have a favourite team growing up or favourite pitcher?

KP – Yeah, the Dodgers. I’d say my favourite pitcher was Clayton Kershaw growing up.

CPB – Final question I want to ask, the Canadians have five different uniforms—white, red, black, blue, gray. Do you have a favourite?

KP – I’m going to go with the all-white look. I like that one a lot. The clean look.

Kai Peterson File

Born – August 14, 2022 in Citrus Heights, California
Height/Weight – 6-foot-1, 190 pounds
Bats/Throws – Left/Left
Uniform Numbers – Wore number 21 with Sacramento Community College in 2022, wore number 28 with Sierra Junior College in 2023 and wore number 21 with the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2024.
Twitter – @Kai_Petersonn
Instagram – @kaipeterson_21
Professional Debut – April 6, 2024 with Dunedin Blue Jays versus Lakeland.
First Professional Strikeout – April 6, 2024. Struck out first batter he faced, Josue Briceño.
First Professional Win – April 11, 2024 with Dunedin versus Lakeland.
First Professional Save – June 12, 2024 for Dunedin versus Bradenton.