ECU baseball alum Trey Yesavage will make his Major League Baseball debut Monday when he pitches at the Tampa Bay Rays.
Then what?
The Blue Jays have a pretty solid starting rotation with Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Max Scherzer, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt. While that could change, at least Gausman, Bieber and Scherzer factor into starting in the postseason.
Plus, no matter what happens, Yesavage will stay in Toronto and not return to the minors this season. Unless Yesavage is lights out in more than one start, he’s likely to spend the rest of the season and postseason in the bullpen. That’s not a bad thing, since Toronto’s bullpen has struggled lately.
BlueJaysNation.com’s Chris Henderson believes the bullpen is the best spot for Yesavage. That’s likely why he had at least one game like that for Triple-A Buffalo instead of starting every game.
However, Henderson makes the case for starting, too. Yesavage could eat up innings to help get through the regular season. Pitchers like Beerrios and Scherzer have struggled in the second half of the season. Going to a six-man rotation to finish out the regular season could be beneficial to everyone, especially since not all five of Toronto’s current starters will serve that role in the postseason.
Henderson wrote in part, “I can’t imagine that something like this alone would motivate the Blue Jays to put Yesavage into the rotation during a tight division race, but the chance to give their veterans some extra rest, while more easily being able to shuffle their starters the way they want, could be an added benefit. Again, they can avoid all of that and buy themselves all the time they need by finishing as a top 2 AL playoff team, and hopefully that’s how things play out in two weeks.”
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