Yesavage Makes MLB Debut With Toronto Blue Jays

TAMPA, Fla. – Former East Carolina pitcher and current member of the Toronto Blue Jays organization Trey Yesavage made his Major League Baseball debut Monday evening, pitching five-plus innings and set the franchise rookie debut record with nine strikeouts in a Blue Jay 2-1, 11-inning affair.

Yesavage, a 22-year-old right-hander taken 20th overall in last year's amateur draft, allowed one run, three hits and two walks in five innings, throwing 49 of 69 pitches for strikes. He averaged 94.6 mph with 32 fastballs and threw 19 splitters and 18 sliders. Six of his strikeouts were on splitters, and he induced 19 swings and misses.

He is the third Pirate to earn the call up to the Majors this season, joining Zach Agnos and Carson Whisenhunt, and sixth since 2022 when All-American Alex Burleson made his debut for the St. Louis Cardinals. Currently, ECU has seven former players in the big leagues with Burleson, Gavin Williams (Cleveland Guardians), Connor Norby (Miami Marlins), Jeff Hoffman (Toronto Blue Jays) and Shawn Armstrong (Texas Rangers). Former Pirate catcher Clayton McCulllough is currently in his first year as the manager of the Miami Marlins, while Agnos (Colorado Rockies) and Whisenhunt (San Francisco Giants) are on the 40-man rosters.

Yesavage, a consensus First Team All-American, earned six 2024 First Team All-America accolades from the American Baseball Coaches Association, Baseball America, College Baseball Foundation, D1Baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game. He closed his career with 10 All-America citations to his credit the last two years and is just the second player in program history to notch at six First Team All-America honors in the same season (Gavin Williams/2021).

Yesavage, who was named the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and collected a spot on the NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament Team, slotted among the national leaders in several categories. He finished the campaign ranked second in WHIP (0.87) and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (4.73), third in earned run average (2.03), fifth in strikeouts (145) and victories (11) and ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.98).

In 15 appearances, Yesavage notched double-digit strikeouts eight times and ended the year tied with Jake Agnos for the ECU and AAC single-season strikeout records. He fanned a career-high 15 batters in the Pirates' 6-4 win over Wichita State back on April 19 and posted no fewer than five strikeouts in every contest.

Excerpts of story taken from Associated Press

Players Mentioned

Trey Yesavage

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