There are many things that fans don’t necessarily know the details about when it comes to their favorite sports teams. One of those situations is how a trade gets broken to certain players and the logistics that go into those transactions.

Blue Jays pitching prospect Chris McElvain was told he had been traded just days, maybe even hours, before finding out his minor league assignment for 2024 with who he thought was still going to be within the Cincinnati Reds organization.

McElvain, an eighth-round draft pick of the Reds in 2022, had just made one of his final starts of spring training when Reds Minor League Director Jeremy Farrell shot him a text asking if he was still around the facility.

“I thought he was just telling me where I was going for the year because that was the person that always told us you were going to start the year ‘here’,” McElvain recalled to Blue Jays Nation. “He was asking me how I was feeling, asking me how I felt about my outing that day, things like that.

“He said, ‘Well, I wanted to be the first one to tell you that you just got traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.‘”

McElvain, who was about to enter only his second full season of professional baseball, initially had a blank stare and was a man of few words in response to the news. Before Farrell gave him the next steps, he followed up by saying, ‘I will make one thing really clear. You didn’t just get traded to the Blue Jays, you got traded for an All-Star major leaguer.’

That All-Star major leaguer was Santiago Espinal, a utilityman who had been in Toronto’s organization since 2018. With the Blue Jays acquiring then-free agent Isiah Kiner-Falefa that winter, it appeared that the final infield spot was between Espinal and Ernie Clement. The latter was having an outstanding spring, so a transaction of some sort was all but inevitable.

McElvain spoke highly of both teams during the trade. “He [Farrell] made the transition feel a little more welcoming,” McElvain said. “He let it sink in and didn’t aggressively tell me, ‘You got traded. Get out of here. Your last day is today.'” Shortly thereafter, McElvain got in touch with Charlie Wilson, the Blue Jays’ Director of Minor League Operations, and Ricky Meinhold, Toronto’s Pitching Development Coordinator, both of whom McElvain said made him feel very welcome and were excited for him to be a part of the organization.

The next steps were a little frantic for McElvain. Not only did he have a flight to Florida the following afternoon and personal belongings to pack, but (just his luck, as he recalled) he had also driven his truck to Arizona for spring training that year.

Once he did get settled into his new organization, McElvain was assigned to high-A Vancouver, where he would pitch to a 4.56 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 9.9 K/9, and 3.8 BB/9 in 11 starts last season. Digging in a little deeper into his game-by-game figures, McElvain’s numbers were somewhat inflated to an extent due to allowing nine runs and 11 hits during a June 7th start against the Everett AquaSox. Aside from that game, McElvain held a 3-2 record, 3.11 ERA, and a 7.7 H/9.

When asked what was working for McElvain that led to his successes, he highlighted his competitive nature, something he’s kept with him during his collegiate career at Vanderbilt and thus far in the pros.

“I’m ultra-competitive. I don’t like seeing people cross home plate. So, I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep people from scoring,” McElvain said, describing his mindset. “Obviously, you’re not going to be perfect with that. You’re going to give up runs. That’s the nature of baseball. But, that competitive edge for me is far more important to me than any mechanical thing you can do or any pitch that you can develop.

“If you don’t have the competitive edge, then you’re not going to be very successful.”

Unfortunately, McElvain’s season would end sooner than expected. He was placed on the 7-day injured list on June 30th and would be transferred to the full-season injured list a little over a month later after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Although it wasn’t how he wanted to spend his first year with the Blue Jays, he was quick to point out that the organization has been very hands-on with his rehab and has shown a lot of care with the process.

Recovery has gone well for McElvain, and he actually faced live hitters for the first time this past Saturday. Barring any setbacks with this part of the rehab process, he gave a ballpark estimate of May as a potential time to return to action at whichever affiliate the organization sends him.

Being in athletics allows you to be around a lot of people and develop relationships. The same has been the case for McElvain, especially now that he’s been in two different organizations through his first two professional seasons. A pair of relationships that have been constant for him, though, are the ones he shares with his two younger brothers, Ethan and Evan. Ethan has followed Chris’s footsteps and is a pitcher at Vanderbilt, currently in his sophomore season, and Evan is a senior catcher at Nolensville High School in Nolensville, TN, where he is currently garnering interest from different post-secondary schools.

Checking out Chris’s “X” account, it’s very easy to see how big a fan he is of his brothers, repping them all the time.

“Once you get out of high school baseball and college baseball, you’re always developing new relationships with people, and you’re always meeting new people. You’re going to get in situations where, just like my trade, that’s an uncomfortable situation. You don’t know anybody,” McElvain said. “I’ve always got my family. I’ve always had a really good relationship with my brothers, and if you think that my household isn’t competitive, you are highly mistaken.”