Blue Jays’ Trey Yesavage walks six, strikes out four in minor-league debut
Trey Yesavage made his affiliated debut on Tuesday evening with the low-A Dunedin Blue Jays, throwing 3.2 innings and leaving with his team up 16-2.
Trey Yesavage is officially a pro.
The Toronto Blue Jays‘ 2024 first-round pick made his affiliated debut on Tuesday evening with the low-A Dunedin Blue Jays, throwing 3.2 innings and leaving with his team up 16-2.
Dunedin ended up securing a 19-5 win over Jupiter. Blue Jays hitters set the Florida State League and full-season minor-league record in the stat-keeping era by working 22 walks in the game.
Yesavage began his outing with a shaky first inning against the Jupiter Hammerheads — the low-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins — perhaps battling the nerves of making his first professional start. He walked three hitters, two of whom came around to score on a two-out error by Dunedin first baseman Brock Tibbitts.
Once he escaped the first, however, Yesavage seemed to settle in. He kept Jupiter out of the run column in his next 2.2 innings. It was similar to his performance in March’s Spring Breakout game against the Minnesota Twins, when he admitted he was amped up for his first inning of work before ultimately delivering an impressive performance.
On Tuesday, the six-foot-four right-hander ended his debut having thrown 68 pitches — 32 for strikes — while allowing one hit, two unearned runs, and six walks, collecting four strikeouts.
Both of his first career pro punchouts came in the second inning, with the first being a successfully overturned challenge.
He left the game after getting two outs and issuing two walks in the fourth inning before reliever Christian Mracna entered and got the final out.
Yesavage averaged 93.6 m.p.h. with his fastball, topping out as 95.2, while mixing in his splitter and cutter throughout the game. Four of the nine whiffs he generated in the game came with his four-seamer.
Drafted 20th overall by Toronto in last summer’s draft, Yesavage entered the season tabbed as the top pitching prospect in the organization by MLB Pipeline and No. 2 overall behind Arjun Nimmala.
The Blue Jays drafted Yesavage out of East Carolina University after he posted an 11-1 record for the Pirates last spring, striking out 145 hitters over 93.1 innings while carrying a 2.03 ERA.
