The Toronto Blue Jays will need to apply for a special exemption if the club wants to add one of the top pitching prospects in the game to its post-season roster.
Trey Yesavage, Toronto’s No. 1 prospect, is still not on the team’s 40-man roster as of Monday morning. MLB rules state that only players on the 40-man or 60-day injured list as of 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 are eligible for the post-season.
However, a player that doesn’t meet that criteria can still be added to a team’s roster in the post-season via petition to the commissioner’s office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation.
This means that the Blue Jays will have to file a petition should they wish to add Yesavage to the post-season roster. The Detroit Tigers took a similar path with top prospect Jackson Jobe in 2024, and Jobe made two relief appearances for the Tigers in the post-season.
On Sept. 1, teams are granted two additional roster spots — one for position players and one for pitchers — bringing the MLB roster size to 28. The Blue Jays used those expansion spots on utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa and righty reliever Dillon Tate.
Yesavage, though still playing in only his first full season of professional baseball, has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the Blue Jays’ minor-league system.
He has suited up at four different minor-league levels, beginning the season at single-A Dunedin and currently pitching for triple-A Buffalo.
The 22-year-old has been solid with the Bisons, pitching to a 4.91 ERA with a 1.364 WHIP and 16 strikeouts over three starts. He last made an appearance on Wednesday, pitching 4.2 innings of one-run ball while racking up five strikeouts.
He was recently ranked as the Blue Jays’ top prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 26 overall in all of baseball.