Blue Jays Top Prospect Trey Yesavage Set to Make MLB Debut
The Toronto Blue Jays are calling up their No.1 prospect (No. 25 overall), pitcher Trey Yesavage, as Sportsnet insiders Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi first reported. The move comes amid a fiery pennant race, as the Jays try to win the AL East for the first time since 2015.
Yesavage has taken an impressive route to Major League Baseball (MLB). The hurler was selected 20th overall in the 2024 MLB Draft out of East Carolina University by the Blue Jays just over a year ago. Manager John Schneider said Sunday the 22-year-old will make his MLB debut Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Yesavage is an unorthodox pitcher, but an effective one. He throws from the highest arm angle in professional baseball. The next closest is future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander with 55 degrees. Beyond his arm slot and despite being a blossoming top prospect, Yesavage stays grounded. He can be quiet yet carry effortless confidence on the mound — perhaps from his small-hometown roots in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
A quote from Yesavage, posted by Blue Jays reporter Keegan Matheson to X, highlights this: “There’s not much pressure at all. I’m still playing a children’s game for a living. There are five-year-olds who play this game. I think that me, at 22 years old, I can do it just fine.”
And do just fine he has. Yesavage began his professional career this season with Single-A Dunedin before being promoted to High-A Vancouver after just seven appearances. His promotions soon became a pattern, as he was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire after his fourth appearance and then to Triple-A Buffalo, the doorstep to the big leagues, after his eighth.
By mid-August, the tall right-hander had made 25 appearances, posting a 3.12 earned-run average while leading Minor League Baseball in strikeouts with 160 in only 98 innings.
The name of the game for the Blue Jays currently is one word: win. Their urgency is apparent as Yesavage gets a chance to start against a division rival. The Blue Jays didn’t call up the big righty to test the waters — they’re throwing him into the deep end with confidence he will float.
Toronto sits four games ahead of the New York Yankees for first in the American League East. For a team headed toward a postseason run, these final two weeks of the regular season could decide everything for Yesavage in 2025. This is his audition to the higher-ups that he deserves a spot on the best team in the American League during October.
