The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2026 season expecting big things from Trey Yesavage. After bursting onto the scene during his remarkable campaign in 2025 and playing a key role in Toronto’s run to the World Series, the 22-year-old right-hander was viewed as one of the club’s foundational pieces and a potential front-line starter for years to come.
While Yesavage has shown flashes of that immense potential this season, the consistency that defined his breakout year has been harder to find. Command issues have repeatedly interrupted otherwise dominant stretches, with several outings already featuring elevated walk totals.
Those concerns resurfaced in a major way on Saturday against the San Diego Padres. Yesavage endured one of the toughest starts of his young career, lasting just 1.2 innings while allowing four earned runs, one hit and seven walks.
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It marked the fourth time this season he has issued at least five walks in a game, which has naturally sparked concerns among Blue Jays fans.
After the game, both Yesavage and manager John Schneider pointed to a mechanical issue as the root cause.
“Just back too far. It makes everything get out of whack and fly open,” Yesavage said, via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.
Schneider explained that the young right-hander’s delivery was out of sync throughout the outing.
“Delivery was weird,” Schneider told Sportsnet while discussing what went wrong.
The Blue Jays nearly overcame Yesavage’s struggles thanks to home runs from Jonatan Clase and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but ultimately fell 8-7 when Ty France’s sixth-inning homer proved to be the difference. The loss snapped Toronto’s three-game winning streak and dropped the club to 45-50 on the season.
The disappointing performance now means Yesavage’s strikeout-to-walk ratio dipped to 1.77, and he now owns a 3.72 ERA after 14 starts.
Toronto will look to clinch the series against San Diego on Sunday, with the All-Star break following immediately afterward. Kevin Gausman (4.32 ERA) is scheduled to start opposite Germán Márquez (5.02 ERA) at Petco Park.
