Poll: How Should the Blue Jays Handle Trey Yesavage’s Workload in 2026?

Trey Yesavage had a whirlwind season in 2025. After the Blue Jays drafted him in the first round in 2024, Yesavage opened 2025 in Single-A and immediately impressed with a 2.43 ERA in 33 1/3 innings. He continued that dominance at shortstop in High-A and reached Double-A in mid-June, striking out 38.0% against a 9.0% walk rate at that level. Yesavage then held his own in Triple-A, allowing no home runs in 17 1/3 innings and continuing to post a high strikeout rate. His rapid rise culminated in three appearances with the big league club in September, followed by six more in the postseason, including two starts and a Game 7 relief appearance in the World Series.

In all, Yesavage threw 139 2/3 innings between the regular season and the playoffs, a significant increase over the 93 1/3 innings he threw at East Carolina University in 2024. Coming off of his success last year, he’ll feature prominently in the exchange mix that includes it again. Dylan Cease, Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Cody Ponce, Max Scherzeragain Shane Bieber (when he returned from work expected to be on the injured list). However, considering Yesavage’s youth is growing rapidly, it is reasonable to expect some sort of innings cap in 2026.

At this point in Spring Training, Yesavage has been pitched for one inning and has yet to appear in a game, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. That’s hardly expected, as even the older starters are slowly being built up to a full-time job by the end of camp. Manager John Schneider confirmed that Yesavage’s slow build was deliberate, and the plan is for him to get one more batting practice session before joining the games. Notably, Schneider downplayed the possibility of Yesavage starting the season as a way to reduce his innings.

“Right now we’re still looking at it as a start,” said Schneider. “And we want to keep that normal. Last year was the year to disrupt the young guy as much as we could, so we want to stay with him.” Schneider’s comments confirm that Yesavage is in for the first chance of a full season. That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if the club handled the rookie’s career carefully at first, especially if Berrios, Ponce and Scherzer start the year healthy behind Cease and Gausman.

According to Schneider, the club wants to keep Yesavage in the regular season. That will likely put him in the rotation for the rest of the season, though he wonders how many innings he can handle. Yesavage averaged less than five innings in the regular season and just over five in the postseason. In five innings at first, his 33rd full season start would put him at nearly 165 innings — another career-high. A target of 140 innings would make more sense.

In that case, Yesavage could go back to Berrios or Ponce in the first month or so. That will give him the advantage of making short appearances while sticking to a beginner’s routine and building up slowly. For Berrios and Ponce, the former makes more sense to work with Yesavage in a piggyback role. Berrios made 32 appearances each season from 2021-24 but appeared to run out of gas as the 2025 season wore on. His 3.75 first-half ERA was solid, but that rose to 5.15 in 50 2/3 innings in the second half. He was dropped from the fold at the end of September and ended up not appearing last season.

Piggybacking Yesavage and Berrios could help control the former’s innings while allowing the latter to re-establish himself after his poor 2025 finish. In contrast, Ponce won this offseason with a three-year, $30MM contract after a successful stint in the Korea Baseball Organization. He pitched 180 2/3 innings over 29 starts for the Hanwha Eagles in 2025, posted an excellent 1.89 ERA, a 30.3% K-BB rate, and eventually won the league MVP award. That latter record and the size of his contract make a combined role unlikely, though Ponce made three appearances in Japan last year and was a rookie in his final MLB experience in 2021.

If the team prefers to keep Yesavage as the traditional starter, he might consider skipping a few starts in the middle of the season. While that would be at least a temporary disruption to his schedule, it could make a lot of sense from a roster management standpoint. The six-man rotation is becoming more common as a way to manage workloads throughout the season, but comes with the challenge of having one less shortstop. Instead of giving him the usual five days off, Yesavage’s first few jumps (ideally during scheduled rest days) would be a good compromise that keeps him fresh longer.

The other (less likely) option is to keep him as the regular season starter, then move him to the bullpen if Toronto makes the postseason. Cease and Gausman are guaranteed spots in the playoff rotation, while Bieber makes for a solid No. 3 and Max Scherzer brings a wealth of postseason experience. Although Yesavage has excelled as a starter this past season, using him as a reliever out of the bullpen would help the team get more out of him while protecting his long-term health.

How do MLBTR readers think the Blue Jays should handle Yesavage’s career in 2026? Be sure to let us know in the poll below:

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