Toronto Blue Jays Rising Pitching Star Earns Florida State League Award

This young Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect is rolling through Florida State League hitters and claimed a weekly award.

Apr 27, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; A Toronto Blue Jays hat and glove in the dugout during the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Rogers Centre. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The Florida State League named Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Trey Yesavage its pitcher of the week for his most recent start.

Against Clearwater, the right-handed claimed a victory against the Philadelphia Phillies affiliate. He pitched six near-flawless innings for the Dunedin Blue Jays. He dominated the Threshers, giving up four hits, no runs and no walks. He struck out eight and lowered his ERA to 2.31.

He was the only Blue Jays prospect to earn a player of the week honor for this cycle.

Yesavage is five games into his professional career and is 1-0 with a 2.31 ERA. He has 36 strikeouts and eight walks in 23.1 innings. Batters are hitting .163 against him. He is already the No. 2 prospect in the organization per MLB Pipeline.

Before he joined the Blue Jays, he was their No. 20 overall selection last July out of East Carolina, where he was one of college baseball’s top pitchers.

Last season with ECU he went 11-1 in 15 starts with a 2.02 ERA. He also struck out 145 and walked 32 in 93.1 innings. He won the AAC’s pitching triple crown, leading the conference in wins, ERA and strikeouts. He also held batters to a .154 average. He also tied both the ECU and AAC record for most strikeouts in a season.

He was a semifinalist for two of baseball’s major overall awards — the Golden Spikes and the Dick Howser — and was a finalist for the College Baseball Foundation national pitcher of the year.

Yesavage was also named a first-team all-American by six different national outlets, was named to the NCAA Tournament’s Greenville regional all-tournament team and the American Athletic Conference pitcher of the year.

He’s had other great starts for Dunedin. The previous week he rolled through the Tampa Tarpons, the Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees. In 4.2 innings he gave up one hit, two runs and one walk while he struck out 10.

It was the second straight game in which Yesavage took a perfect game into the fifth inning and struck out 10 hitters.

Given how well he’s throwing at Dunedin, it’s possible that he could earn a promotion to High-A Vancouver soon.