Trey Yesavage looked right at home in his MLB debut with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The 22-year-old right-hander struck out nine batters over five innings of work against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday to break the Blue Jays franchise record for most strikeouts in an MLB debut.
Yesavage allowed just one run on three hits and two walks before being replaced by Brendon Little in the bottom of the sixth after 69 pitches.
Along with his nine strikeouts, he induced 19 whiffs, 11 of which came on his splitter.
His 52.8 per cent whiff rate on Monday was the highest by any Blue Jays starting pitcher (debut or otherwise) since tracking began in 2009. It was also the highest by any MLB starting pitcher in a big league debut (both stats with a minimum of 60 pitches).
After giving up two hits to the first two batters of the game, Yesavage settled in and used his unusually high release point to give the Rays all sorts of trouble.
Yesavage struck out five Rays batters in a row at one point during the game, including striking out the side in the fourth inning.
He posted exceptional minor-league numbers across four levels this season before being called up to join the big club on Sunday.
The Boyertown, Penn., native, who was selected 20th overall in the first round of the 2024 draft, enters the big leagues with Toronto in the thick of a pennant race.
