The Blue Jays reinstated Trey Yesavage on April 28 and optioned Chase Lee, clearing the rookie right-hander to return for Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox after a rehab stint that tested Toronto’s patience and its depth.
Yesavage was scheduled to be activated from the 15-day injured list before the three-game series in Boston, giving manager John Schneider another arm to use as the club keeps piecing together a rotation hit by injuries. Schneider said Dylan Cease, Yesavage and Max Scherzer would start in the series, while Cease and Patrick Corbin swapped places so Corbin could face the Guardians on Sunday.
The move carries real weight because Yesavage is not just another call-up. Toronto drafted him 20th overall in 2024 out of East Carolina University, and he had never thrown a professional pitch before 2025. He arrived at Spring Training with a shoulder impingement, was placed on the 15-day injured list to open the season and then made four minor league rehab starts before the club brought him back. His most recent outing for Triple-A Buffalo on April 21 lasted 64 pitches, after he threw 71 in the start before it.
Toronto has been asking a lot of him for a player whose workload was already unusual. Yesavage debuted in September with a 3.21 ERA over his first 14 big league innings, then posted a 3.58 ERA over six playoff games and 27 2/3 innings. That postseason run included a seven-inning, 12-strikeout performance against the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series. In 2025, he logged 139 2/3 innings between the minors, the majors and the postseason.
But the return also shows how thin the Blue Jays have been forced to run. The team was 10-15 at the time of the report and had seven pitchers and 12 players overall on the injured list. Absences from Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios and Cody Ponce left Toronto scrambling for pitching, and the club has already moved Eric Lauer from the rotation into long relief to keep games covered.
That urgency is part of why the Blue Jays signed Corbin to a one-year, $1 million deal and gave him a look in the rotation after he produced a 3.86 ERA over three starts and 14 2/3 innings. Yesavage’s rehab line was less tidy — a 7.50 ERA and a 12.5% walk rate across 12 innings — but Toronto has decided his arm is needed now, even if it is still being managed carefully. The next question is whether he can help steady a staff that has spent the season lurching from one fix to the next.
