The Toronto Blue Jays are getting a major boost to their pitching rotation with rookie Trey Yesavage set to make his season debut on Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox.
It’s odd to even refer to Yesavage as a rookie at this point after he encapsulated the city with his dominant run in the playoffs a season ago, but Yesavage enters Tuesday’s start with just 14 innings of regular-season pitching under his belt.
The 22-year-old made his MLB debut on Sept. 15 and pitched to a 3.21 earned-run average down the stretch to help the Blue Jays take the AL East title, then went to another level in the postseason - in five starts he compiled a 3.58 ERA, set a Blue Jays record for strikeouts in a postseason debut (11) and set an MLB record for strikeouts by a rookie in a World Series game (12) in his masterful seven-inning outing in Game 5.
Yesavage’s return will be exciting for fans, but after recording just two hits in a shutout defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox on Monday, the team’s biggest issue of lack of offence will still need some help.
ESPN’s Buster Olney joined First Up on TSN1050 on Tuesday morning to discuss the return of Yesavage, the state of the offence and how the team might perform moving forward.
“[10 strikeouts tonight] wouldn’t surprise me,” Olney said. “He’s got that kind of stuff, we saw in the postseason last year that he’s got such an unusual delivery, the quality of the split-finger fastball, it’s not something that hitters see.
“I fully expect that he’s going to come in and he’s going to help right away and give them a chance to win when he starts. Big boost for the Blue Jays and it does feel like they’re beginning to get the rotation settled in here.”
The timing is especially helpful after starter Max Scherzer was placed on the Injured List on Monday with two separate ailments. Olney is paying closer attention to another issue with the team, though.
“It just comes down to their offence,” Olney said. “It’s good that they’re getting pitching reinforcements back, it’s good that Yesavage is back, and there will be other [pitchers] that follow, but this is a time when they gotta hit better.”
The shutout loss to the Red Sox Monday was only the second time the Blue Jays have been shut out this season, but the team has scored three or fewer runs in 13 of 28 games - and own a 1-12 record in those games.
“The [Blue Jays] are 24th out of 30 teams in OPS, 27th out of 30 teams in runs scored, 25th in home runs,” said Olney. “I don’t think anybody came into the year thinking they would have a dynamic offence, like the Dodgers or the Yankees, but they need to be better.”
Toronto’s offence has been missing some key cogs in the early part of the year, with George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger and Nathan Lukes each spending time on the Injured List for various reasons. But their superstar, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., has also tallied just eight extra-base hits over his first 118 plate appearances and owns a slugging percentage of .447, almost 50 points below his career average.
“I think the big thing [with Guerrero] though, and it’s not like I’m locked in on every pitch he’s [seen], but certainly you think he’s affected by what’s going on around him in the lineup,” Olney said.
“The loss of Springer, Barger, Kirk, because we saw during the postseason that depth of lineup, when other guys are playing well, it’s going to give him more chances.”
Guerrero hit 23 home runs and finished with an on-base plus slugging of .848 in the regular season in 2025. In the postseason though, he ascended to another level - Guerrero smashed eight home runs in 18 games, totalled 13 extra-base hits in 89 plate appearances and finished with an OPS of 1.289 in one of the great postseason performances in recent memory.
“I talked to someone the other day about the Red Sox and their struggles offensively, and the remark I got from an evaluator was ”there’s no one in that lineup that you circle their name and say ‘Don’t let that guy beat us.’” Well with the Blue Jays now, Vladdy is that guy where you’re going into a game and you’re game planning him and I’m sure the conversation between pitchers and catchers is ‘don’t give him anything with which he can do damage.’
“And I think the opportunities are going to improve as George comes back, assuming he hits, as Alejandro Kirk comes back, I just think he’s going to get better quality of pitches to do damage on.”
The Blue Jays have some good news on the horizon in the batting order, as Springer is expected to return to the lineup imminently. Kirk, who suffered a fractured thumb in the second week of the season, was initially given a four-to-six week recovery timeline, meaning he could be back in May.
“I remember 20 years ago talking to Clint Hurdle, the former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he made a great point that has always stuck with me,” Olney said. “He said that lineup protection comes from the front. It’s guys getting on base and backing opposing pitchers into corners. And what happened during the postseason last year? Ernie Clement was always on base and George Springer was amazing and the guys around Vladdy were amazing, which meant that pitchers were backed into corners, they had to throw more pitches in the zone and he made them pay, and I think his power numbers don’t have a chance to really jump until that happens.”
The Blue Jays (12-16) continue their three-game set against the Red Sox at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday.
