Toronto Blue Jays rookie sensation Trey Yesavage will start the season on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement, manager John Schneider told reporters on Thursday.

Yesavage, 22, had yet to appear in live spring training action, instead building up slowly on backfields against minor leaguers after blowing past his previous innings high in his first professional season.

The right-hander rocketed through the Blue Jays’ system in 2025, all the way from low-A Dunedin to the majors, pitching a combined 139 2/3 innings, including the postseason.

His previous high was 93.1 at East Carolina in 2024, and the 33 per cent increase in workload year-over-year could have been reason alone for the team to be cautious with the phenom’s build-up. Yet he was further hampered by the impingement that he reported upon arriving at camp, according to Schneider.

“Obviously led to his slow build-up as well,” said Schneider. “Right now (he’s) feeling good. He’s in a better place now to kind of continue to ramp up. So he’s going to kind of continue on the program he’s been on.

“He’s feeling better now than he did obviously. Part of the reason for the ramp up now, we had a plan in place to kind of slow play it anyway after last year and then wanted to kind of get over that hump initially, and did. But in terms of a timeline, nothing definitive. But he is feeling really good right now … he’s still scheduled to be off the mound, I think up until next week will be the next time off the mound, and we’ll see how he progresses,” Schneider added.

Yesavage reportedly threw 35 pitches in a simulated game on March 11 and also threw 35 pitches on Monday over a two-inning outing in a minor-league game. His next scheduled outing is set for Wednesday, March 25.

The Blue Jays will undoubtedly miss the unorthodox high arm angle of the young righty after he dazzled upon first setting foot in the majors last season. Yesavage set a Blue Jays franchise record with nine strikeouts in his major-league debut. He was also a crucial part of Toronto’s post-season rotation, pitching 27 2/3 innings, including an 11-strikeout, no-hit outing over 5 1/3 innings in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees and a record-setting 12-strikeout performance over seven innings against the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series.

It now stands to reason that Eric Lauer will be included in the Blue Jays’ rotation along with Opening Day starter Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer and Cody Ponce, though it hasn’t been confirmed yet. Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios are now all set to start the season on the IL.

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