Trey Yesavage is ready for his 2026 debut, as the rookie right-hander will be activated from the 15-day injured list prior to Tuesday’s game with the Red Sox. Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) that Dylan Cease, Yesavage, and Max Scherzer will start during the three-game series against Boston. Cease and Patrick Corbin will swap places in the rotation so Corbin will now face the Guardians on Sunday, and Eric Lauer will be moved from a starting role into a long relief role.
Yesavage had never thrown a professional pitch prior to 2025, and his quick path from A-ball to the Blue Jays’ World Series rotation was one of the key storylines of Toronto’s postseason run. After debuting in September with a 3.21 ERA over his first 14 big league innings, Yesavage then had a 3.58 ERA over six games and 27 2/3 frames in the playoffs, highlighted by an epic seven-inning, 12-strikeout performance against the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series.
Between the minors, the majors, and the postseason, Yesavage threw a total of 139 2/3 innings in 2025 — a marked increase from the 98 innings Yesavage threw for East Carolina University in 2024 before Toronto made him the 20th overall pick of the 2024 draft. As such, there was already a sense that the Blue Jays would look to limit Yesavage’s innings in 2026 in order to keep the righty from overextending himself, though an immediate hurdle arose when Yesavage arrived at Spring Training with a shoulder impingement.
The Jays took it slow with Yesavage’s workload in camp, and then placed him on the 15-day IL to begin the season so the right-hander could continue to ramp up at his own pace. Yesavage has made four minor league rehab starts, and his most recent outing with Triple-A Buffalo on April 21 saw him toss only 64 pitches, in a step backwards from the 71 pitches he threw in his previous start. Yesavage also has a 7.50 ERA and a 12.5% walk rate across his 12 rehab innings, though on-field results are less important than feel and comfort during a rehab assignment.
As Matheson noted, Yesavage “typically landed more in the range of 65 to 85 pitches” per outing in 2025, and the Blue Jays will probably keep him on something of a similar leash this year. The goal is to keep Yesavage fully past any lingering after-effects of his shoulder problem, and also to keep him fresh for what the Jays hope will be another deep run into October.
For the moment, however, simply getting back to the .500 mark is the first order of business for the 10-15 Blue Jays. Yesavage is one of seven pitchers and 12 players overall on Toronto’s injured list, as a swath of health problems big and small have caused the Jays to stumble out of the gate this season. For the rotation in particular, the absences of Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios, and (to a season-ending ACL tear) Cody Ponce has left the Jays scrambling for pitching despite what seemed to be a surplus of starters in March.
Cease and Kevin Gausman have both been very good, and Patrick Corbin (signed to a one-year, $1MM deal as a response to all the injuries) has managed a respectable 3.86 ERA over three starts and 14 2/3 innings. Scherzer and Lauer have each been hit hard, which is also part of reason for Lauer’s shift back to relief work.
Lauer has been public about his desire to work both as a starter and not work behind an opener when starting, though his 6.75 ERA over 22 2/3 innings has left the southpaw with little room to contest a role change. In regards to Lauer’s comments, Schneider said “he’s still going to pitch meaningful innings for us. Our rotation has been and maybe will continue to be in flux. He was playing catch-up, I think. After his first outing, his stuff was down and there were some delivery things. Just talking to him yesterday, there’s still an opportunity to work on those things.”
Having Lauer work multiple innings out of the bullpen could help him get on track, and should also help relieve some of the pressure on the Blue Jays’ overtaxed relief corps. The 113 1/3 innings pitched by Toronto’s relievers is the fifth-highest total of any bullpen in the league, while the rotation’s 109 1/3 innings are the third-fewest in baseball.
