Trey Yesavage settled into a solid 4.2-inning performance after a rather shaky start in his third outing with triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old racked up five strikeouts allowing one run on two hits and two walks against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ top affiliate.
After issuing a walk to the second batter he faced, Indianapolis’ designated hitter Nick Solak ripped a 413-foot double off the top of the wall in centre field to score a run. Yesavage balked Solak over to third as he limped through a 29-pitch first inning.
Yesavage responded after Buffalo provided plenty of run support and returned for the second with a different look. The right-hander retired nine in a row before Cam Devanney reached on an infield single in the bottom of the fourth.
He pumped 51 strikes on 83 pitches topping out at 95.3 m.p.h., with 13 whiffs — five on the splitter — before he was lifted with a 6-1 lead in the fifth.
Toronto’s 20th overall pick in 2024 has been on a meteoric rise through their farm system in his first full pro-season, pitching at every level of the minors. He landed in Buffalo with an outside shot of contributing to the first-place Blue Jays down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Last time out, Yesavage also tossed 83 pitches with 51 strikes over 4.2 innings, punching out a whopping eight hitters and walking two after a rough first appearance where he walked four and gave up two runs in 1.2 innings of work.
Recently ranked as the Blue Jays’ top prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 26 overall in all of baseball, the right-hander’s five strikeouts Wednesday moves him into a tie for second place amongst all minor leaguers this season with 150 in 91.2 innings.