With the 20th overall pick, the Blue Jays could select… Trey Yesavage?
1 day ago
One thing is abundantly clear about the 2024 Major League Baseball draft – there aren’t a ton of college arms.
In two weeks, the 2024 draft begins, and the Blue Jays will step up to the podium with the 20th-overall pick for the second consecutive season. Unlike last draft, they’ll have a second round pick, selecting 59th overall as well. Rounding out the first five rounds, they’ll have picked 95, 125, 136, 158 as well.
The Blue Jays have a signing bonus pool of $8,897,000, mainly used in the first 10 rounds (or 11 picks). In rounds 11 to 20, they can sign every player to a max signing bonus of $150,000 before it starts to cut into the pool.
In this article, we’ll take a look at Trey Yesavage.
Trey Yesavage’s bio
Trey Yesavage is a 20-year-old right-handed pitcher who stands at 6’4”, 225 lbs and attends East Carolina University. According to MLB Pipeline, he ranks as the 11th-best draft prospect, which may seem too high for the Jays to select with the 20th-overall pick, but that’s the exact spot Arjun Nimmala ranked last season according to MLB Pipeline.
The state of North Carolina has seen its fair share of Blue Jays draft picks. In 2022, they drafted and signed Michael Turocni (15th round) and Ryan Chasse (17th round). In total, since Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins took over in 2016, they’ve picked 13 players from North Carolina.
However, it has been quite a while since the last time they selected a player from East Carolina. In fact, you’d have to go all the way back to 2014 when the Jays selected Jeff Hoffman with the ninth-overall pick.
Trey Yesavage’s scouting report
Out of the bullpen in 2022, Yesavage had a 4.50 ERA in 26 innings pitched, along with a 37.5 K% and a 15.8 BB%. The control improved when he moved to the rotation in 2023, as his BB% dropped down to 7.4%, while his ERA was 2.61 in 76 innings pitched. The K% in 2023 took a bit of a hit too, as it dropped to 33.9%.
His junior season with East Carolina was his best though, as he posted a 2.03 ERA in 93.1 innings pitched with his highest K% yet, at 40.1%. Yesavage’s BB% raised to 8.9%, but he went from giving up 11 homers in 2023 to just four in 2024.
Trey Yesavage’s stuff
According to Yesavage’s scouting report from MLB Pipeline, he started as a reliever in 2022, before moving to the rotation for the 2023 season.
He has a four-pitch mix. The fastball sits 93-95 mph but has touched 98 mph. While it doesn’t have a ton of movement, it carries, which is just as good. His slider/cutter is his best pitch, featuring a ton of depth, while he also features a curveball and splitter that misses bats.
Yesavage’s delivery isn’t as fluid as you’d like it to be, but he does a fine job of throwing strikes. On top of that, his fastball command has been better this season, which has helped him avoid giving up home runs.
Trey Yesavage’s grades
As always, we’ll take a look at Yesavage’s grades according to MLB Pipeline.
| Tool | Grade |
| Fastball | 60 |
| Curveball | 50 |
| Slider | 60 |
| Splitter | 60 |
| Control | 50 |
| Overall | 55 |
Yesavage has “middle-of-the-rotation” starter written all over him, featuring four plus pitches with solid command.
Will the Blue Jays select Trey Yesavage
If the Jays wish to go down the college pitcher route for the first time since 2021, Yesavage may be the best available when they step up to the podium. Of course, there’s a high likelihood that he goes before then as he ranks as MLB Pipeline’s 11th-ranked prospect in a draft class lacking college pitchers.
Still, he’s someone who the Jays should be all over, as he’s only a few seasons away from potentially making a big league roster.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.
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