We finally saw what Toronto Blue Jays top pitching prospect Trey Yesavage could do on the mound as he made his team debut in the Spring Breakout game on Saturday.

While it’s not an official game on the record books, it was technically one of his first games as a professional against an opposing team, and the 6-foot-4 right-hander pitched two innings and struck out the side to finish his day with walk-off-the-mound swag against the Minnesota Twins. He replaced Jake Bloss in the third inning and got a flyout from Diego Cartaya for his first out. A couple of singles from the Twins prospects had Yesavage in a tough spot but he responded by getting a flyout and a groundout to finish the inning. His three strikeouts came on 18 total pitches and one of them was a swinging punchout, with Yesavage sitting down the Twins’ seventh-ranked prospect in Brandon Winokur. Yesavage earned the win.

The former East Carolina star used three different pitches; cutter, fastball, and changeup to generate the crucial whiffs in those at-bats, and his fastball touched 97 mph, both encouraging signs. Yesavage also flashed quiet confidence on the mound and a high-arching delivery that seemingly mimics a baseball coming down from the sky.

As sharp as last year’s top draft pick looked on Saturday, it’s fair to wonder where he’ll start his season, how things might go, and what level of the minor leagues he could reach by September.

It’s reasonable to expect the 21-year-old to start the season at single-A Dunedin, but giving him a start or two in rookie ball at the Florida Complex League wouldn’t necessarily be a negative either. If he can perform well in Dunedin, which isn’t a leap considering his pedigree, moving him west to high-A Vancouver once the weather heats up seems like the next logical step. For example, the highest-drafted Blue Jays pitcher in 2023 was second-round college arm Juaron Watts-Brown, and he too started his pro career in single-A Dunedin before making the jump to Vancouver roughly midway through the season.

If Yesavage can show enough development over the summer on the West Coast (once he gets promoted there), having him finish his year off at double-A New Hampshire would be an ideal scenario. That’s not to say that if he fails to reach that level his season is a failure, but having the imposing righty face double-A hitters for the final starts of his campaign would set him up tremendously for 2026. In his final year in NCAA baseball, Yesavage threw 93.1 innings. If he can top that, even by a few frames, and eclipse the century mark while moving up a couple of levels, his season will be a success.

Seeing Yesavage’s increased velocity on his fastball was a promising early sign, especially since his slider could eventually be his best pitch. His full arsenal of pitches will be on display over the next several months, as will his ability to pitch 100+ innings. Continuing to tighten up his delivery, while posting high strikeout totals, and avoiding getting shelled too often will help get the 87^th-ranked prospect in MLB get to where he needs to, especially as he continues to develop in the farm system.

It’s been a challenging few years for Blue Jays prospects, especially on the pitching side. It’s about time for this system to have some players in the pipeline who are worth getting excited about and Yesavage is one arm that Blue Jays fans can look forward to watching grow in the system for the next couple of seasons.