Trey Yesavage is still about a week or so away from making his highly anticipated Grapefruit League debut this spring, manager John Schneider revealed on Tuesday.

Given the record-shattering rookie campaign Yesavage enjoyed last season, the Toronto Blue Jays are taking a cautious approach to his spring training workload this year, easing him into his starter’s build-up after logging 139.2 innings split between 25 minor-league games, a trio of big-league starts during the regular season and six post-season appearances in 2025.

That was a significant increase from the 93.1 innings that he threw at East Carolina University before being selected 20th overall by the Blue Jays organization in 2024. It was also the deepest into the baseball calendar that he’s ever pitched, doing so at the highest level and the most stressful environment he’s ever faced — and during his first professional campaign, no less.

Yesavage didn’t make another start for the remainder of the ’24 season after being drafted, and then endured the biggest and most strenuous workload of his career during his introduction into pro ball. From there, with the franchise advancing to Game 7 of the World Series, his body didn’t receive as much recovery time as it would have during a traditional off-season.

Doing everything possible to ensure Yesavage remains healthy in 2026 is Toronto’s top priority, hence the decision to keep the AL Rookie of the Year favourite in a controlled setting through the end of February. He’s thrown multiple side sessions, including another on Tuesday, and live batting practice and figures to throw another live BP later this week.

But Schneider also acknowledged that Yesavage is “on a little bit of a different ramp up” than others in camp, and that the organization aims to be “really mindful with how we’re getting him ready” for this season, as Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi relayed.

The Blue Jays have already ruled out the possibility of Yesavage making 32 starts and eclipsing 200 innings during his first full major-league season. That was never even on the table. Everyone’s looking at the bigger picture regarding the 22-year-old righty’s usage this year.

This will almost certainly be a season-long conversation for Toronto’s brass, which could evolve throughout the summer depending on how Yesavage responds. For now, it’s expected to remain a fluid situation beyond Opening Day, with the team taking it start by start.

Schneider and the rest of the Blue Jays’ staff have already begun mapping out potential solutions if Yesavage’s workload requires a reset, such as pushing back his turn in the rotation by a few games or skipping it entirely. They could also continue building up his stamina during the regular season, limiting him to four or five-inning starts early on before turning him loose.

It’s also possible for the organization to option Yesavage back to Triple-A Buffalo if he requires a full reset — similar to the approach they took with Mason Fluharty midway through last season — as he still holds all three minor-league options.

In any case, bringing Yesavage along slowly — paired with Shane Bieber starting this season on the injured list — opens the door to the possibility of using Eric Lauer as a starter again, which he’s already stated as his preference rather than returning to a multi-inning reliever role. But he may be needed in both situations to begin this season.

We can also start connecting the dots around Toronto’s renewed interest in bringing back future Hall-of-Fame pitcher Max Scherzer, who remains unsigned and likely wouldn’t be ready until closer to the end of April or early May.