The Blue Jays are selling right-hander Trey Yesavage to the majors, in line with a report from Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Yesavage is anticipated to be lively on the MLB roster for Monday’s sport in opposition to the Rays in Tampa.
Yesavage, 22, was chosen twentieth total in final yr’s draft by Toronto. Seen by most draft prospect analysis companies as a top-15 expertise in his class on the time, he earned some top-100 prospect consideration this previous offseason regardless of not having made his MLB debut but due to a dominant 40.4% strikeout charge a 2.03 ERA in 15 begins for East Carolina final yr. Yesavage started his season on the Single-A stage and was promoted three separate instances all year long. He made simply 4 begins for Excessive-A Vancouver earlier than he was promoted to Double-A, and regardless of a 4.50 ERA in 30 innings at that stage 38.0% strikeout charge was sufficient to persuade Blue Jays brass to advertise him to Triple-A final month.
Since then, he’s pitched to a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of labor whereas placing out 36.1% of his opponents. That’s a formidable sufficient determine that the Blue Jays determined to scratch Yesavage from his scheduled begin with Buffalo tomorrow and name him as much as the majors, although it shouldn’t be taken to imply Yesavage is totally with out flaws. The teen has walked 10.5% of his opponents this yr, together with 15.3% of his opponents at Triple-A. These struggles along with his command have typically been made up for by his spectacular stuff, headlined by a fastball that sits 94-95 to go together with a splitter and a slider.
Whereas the Blue Jays are nonetheless exhausting at work heading off the Yankees (who sit simply three video games again of Toronto within the AL East), they’re kind of assured of a spot within the postseason at this level. The membership has a veteran rotation that includes Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber, Chris Bassitt, and Jose Berrios as issues stand. Yesavage could be very unlikely to bump anybody from that group from the postseason rotation. It’s at the very least believable the Jays may use Yesavage in spot begins over the season’s ultimate weeks to assist them line up their best postseason rotation for a possible Wild Card sequence, however the Jays have an actual shot at a bye via the Wild Card spherical and would more than likely profit from seeing what Yesavage can do out of the bullpen.
Toronto’s bullpen has been flagging in current weeks. Nearer Jeff Hoffman has an ERA close to 5.00, and deadline acquisition Louis Varland hasn’t taken to Canada very effectively regardless of his success in Minnesota earlier this yr. With the late innings wanting like a serious query mark for the Jays headed into the postseason, attempting Yesavage out of the bullpen and seeing if he can use his spectacular stuff to dominate main league hitters in brief bursts may end result within the Jays having one other energy arm for his or her aid corps to lean on in October if the experiment goes effectively.
All that speak of October could sound complicated, provided that the league’s guidelines state {that a} participant is probably not on a membership’s postseason roster if not on the 40-man roster come September 1. There are methods round that, nonetheless, and one such loophole that may enable Yesavage to make a postseason roster this yr is that golf equipment are allowed to interchange gamers who’re eligible to be activated off the injured record however not but wholesome sufficient to return, as long as the substitute was lively within the group previous to September 1. Yesavage meets these circumstances, and the Jays have loads of gamers who he could possibly be thought-about a substitute for, similar to Yimi Garcia.
Yesavage’s September call-up implies that he’ll get at the very least a little bit of main league service time this yr, however we’ve long gone the time the place he could be at risk of shedding rookie eligibility for the 2026 marketing campaign. Toronto might want to create house on their 40-man roster with a purpose to formally name Yesavage as much as the majors on Monday by designating somebody for task.
