Trey Yesavage had a night for the ages on Monday, setting a Toronto Blue Jays franchise record for strikeouts in a Major League Baseball debut.
The appearance put the rest of the league on notice. The young pitcher, a first-round draft choice just a year ago, belongs in the majors.
And current Blue Jays star Kevin Gausman had front row seats for the entire show.
“He’s pounding the zone. That was pretty fun to watch,” Gausman said to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson. “The first two hitters, you’re like, “‘Oh … [crap]. Is this a ‘Welcome to the show’ type of thing?’ He just needed to get acclimated to the game, I guess. I haven’t seen a young guy make a debut like that ever.”
Per MLB Pipeline, Yesavage made his debut ranked as the top prospect in the Blue Jays’ system, and 25th-ranked prospect across MLB.
His start for the Blue Jays marked the fifth different level he has pitched at professionally this season – he debuted for the Rookie Ball Dunedin Blue Jays in April before climbing through Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A.
His 160 strikeouts over 98.2 minor-league innings gave him the highest strikeout rate of any pitcher in the minors this year, and that stuff was on display against the Rays on Monday.
“He made Brandon Lowe look like he’s never seen a changeup before, and that guy’s a good changeup hitter,” Gausman said.
Yesavage’s changeup – he and the team are calling it a splitter – was his best pitch in his debut, and one of the best pitches in the major that night.
Per Matheson, Rays batters swung at 14 splitters thrown by Yesavage, and whiffed on 11 of them. That type of swing and miss in a start on a single pitch is extremely rare for any pitcher, let alone a 22-year-old making his first appearance in the majors.
“That [at-bat against Lowe was] the one at-bat when I was like, ‘Wow, that pitch is elite,’” Gausman said.
A dominating splitter is a weapon that defines Gausman himself amongst Jays pitchers. The 34-year-old revitalized his career when he developed the pitch after flaming out with the Atlanta Braves in 2019.
Gausman also made his debut at the age of 22 with the Baltimore Orioles back in 2012, is a lanky righty and was also a top prospect (ranked No. 31 per MLB Pipeline).
But the 13th-year player insists that’s where the similarities end between him and Yesavage.
“I was nowhere near that when I was 22. Don’t even compare me to him,” Gausman said.
Indeed, Gausman struggled in his debut, allowing four runs and seven hits against the Blue Jays over five innings on May 23. And that followed him through his six years in Baltimore, never able to capitalize on the promise he showed as a prospect with the Orioles.
“I’ve played with so many guys, especially in Baltimore, where I thought, ‘This guy’s going to be in Baltimore for the next 10 years.’ Next thing you know, he’s not,” Gausman said. “That’s the nature of the beast.”
He’s hoping for a different outcome for Yesavage, who can potentially provide a big boost to the pitching staff during the upcoming postseason.
“[Yesavage] seems like a guy you’re never really going to have to worry about,” Gausman said. He’s only been here a couple of days and I’ve only talked to him a couple of times, but he just seems way older than 22. Me at 22 and him at 22? Big, big difference.”