Blue Jays promote top pitching prospect Yesavage, two others to High-A

The Toronto Blue Jays promoted a trio of pitching prospects from the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays to the High-A Vancouver Canadians on Saturday, per MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.

Among the three is right-hander Trey Yesavage, the Blue Jays' first-round pick in the 2024 MLB June Entry Draft and top pitching prospect in the organization, per MLB Pipeline. Toronto also promoted No. 10 prospect Khal Stephen and Gage Stanifer.

Yesavage, 21, was overwhelming hitters in Dunedin, and after a successful career at East Carolina, he was clearly too good to be pitching in Single-A. Yesavage held a 2.43 earned-run average with 55 strikeouts over 33.1 innings.

Per Matheson, the organization had always planned to give Yesavage time to establish a professional routine in Dunedin and to avoid pitching in cold and rainy conditions in Vancouver in April.

Yesavage, who pitched 93.1 innings at East Carolina in 2024, may still be promoted again later in the year depending on how he fares in Vancouver, as the team is comfortable with his workload to this point. He is the No. 71 prospect across all of the minors, per MLB Pipeline.

The 22-year-old Stephen, who was selected in the second round of the 2024 draft after Yesavage, has a 2.06 ERA with 48 strikeouts over 39.1 innings in Dunedin and, like Yesavage, may move further up in the minors as the year goes on.

Stanifer has typically followed Yesavage out of the bullpen in games this season, and the 21-year-old that was selected out of high school in the 19th round of the 2022 draft has been completely dominant.

Stanifer has a 0.69 ERA with 39 strikeouts over 26 innings in Single-A to this point.