The latest stop on the rapid rise of Pottstown’s Trey Yesavage? World Series starter at 22: ‘He’s one of a kind’

TORONTO — Trey Yesavage took a deep breath.

The noise around him was deafening. But he looked up at the top of the dugout, and focused there for a beat. Then he put his hat on, and he walked out to the mound to do his job.

“It was funny,” said Boyertown Area head baseball coach Todd Moyer, “because I’ve seen him do that lots of times.”

This time, though, instead of facing off against rivals in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, Yesavage was striking out Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor.

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On Sunday, his job was keeping the Blue Jays’ season alive in the American League Championship Series against the Mariners. Toronto gave the ball to the 22-year-old from Pottstown to start Game 6, and he held Seattle to two runs over 5⅔ innings. Yesavage helped force a Game 7, where the Blue Jays punched their ticket to the World Series.

Now, the 22-year-old from Pottstown will start Game 1 of the Fall Classic against the Dodgers.

“It’s something I never even would have dreamed of,” Yesavage said Thursday.

What Yesavage has done this year has never been done before. Just over 15 months ago, the right-hander was drafted, 20th overall, out of East Carolina University. He opened his first professional season in March with Toronto’s single-A affiliate, the Dunedin Blue Jays.

And on Friday, he will be the youngest player to start a World Series game since 2010, when Madison Bumgarner started Game 4 for San Francisco at 21.

The key difference, though, is that Bumgarner had been a professional baseball player for two years before that first World Series start. He was drafted out of high school in 2007, and spent 2008 and most of 2009 in the minors before making his major league debut that September.

Yesavage ascended through the minor leagues at a breakneck pace. When he was called up to high-A in May, it was the first of four promotions in four months. He reached the majors on Sept. 15, and struck out nine in his debut to set a franchise record.

“I’ve been able to go through this and handle it as diligently as possible,” Yesavage said. “With this being my rookie season and having these high-pressure games, I try to treat it as if it’s not as high pressure as it is, mentally.”

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Yesavage set another franchise record in his postseason debut in Game 2 of the division series. Yesavage’s 11 strikeouts against the Yankees were the most in Blue Jays postseason history, as he held New York without a hit for 5⅔ innings.

“I was standing with a group of people when he got Aaron Judge, and the first time he didn’t get him, but the second time he did,” Moyer said. “And we were like, ‘There it is, right there. He just struck out Aaron Judge.’ One of the best hitters in the game, biggest stars. It was a weird feeling. It was a really good feeling to watch him be successful.

“But at that level, against that guy. I can’t tell you what it was. It was just unbelievable to watch.”

Moyer has known Yesavage even before he starred for the Boyertown Area baseball team. He also coached him at age 7 in youth basketball, as Yesavage is a year older than Moyer’s son.

“He was a big, strong kid. He was kind of fearless,” said Moyer. “He didn’t have a whole lot of doubt that he was going to be able to handle what he was getting himself into. And you see that now. He looks at his situation, and what he needs to do, and he gets it done. He’s been getting it done really well.”

On Sunday, Moyer was watching on television from home as Yesavage waded into some trouble in the third inning of Game 6. With Toronto hanging on to a two-run lead, a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for Raleigh, the regular-season home run king.

Yesavage went to his signature pitch — his splitter — and got Raleigh to hit a sharp grounder to first base. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. snagged it and threw to second for the force out. By the time the ball was in shortstop Andrés Giménez’s glove, Yesavage was already covering first base to complete the inning-ending double play. He had not hesitated coming off the mound for even a second.

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At that moment, texts started rolling into Moyer’s phone: You think he heard your voice in the back of his head?

As a coach, Moyer has always emphasized fundamentals. Whenever one of his pitchers finds themselves in a similar predicament, it’s a sure bet Moyer will be shouting from the dugout, “Get over there!”

But an elimination game in the ALCS is different. Moyer isn’t taking any credit. This is how Yesavage has always been.

“His composure and his maturity,” Moyer said. “He’s just shown that all the time. It’s fun to watch because I know how hard the game is, and I know if he doesn’t catch that ball and they get momentum, it’s a completely different game and a completely different story.”

Yesavage induced two more double play balls in Game 6 to keep the Mariners at bay. Fellow East Carolina Pirate and former Phillie Jeff Hoffman pitched the eighth and ninth to close it out.

“I heard so much about him, from past coaches and trainers and all these things about how, ‘You’re going to love this kid,’” Hoffman said. “And ‘He’s a great kid; great head on his shoulders.’ And I think all those reports are absolutely true. He’s one of a kind. He’s extremely mature for his age. He has all the things that you look for a young kid like that to come up with, and I think it puts him in a really good spot to have a long career.”

During Yesavage’s meteoric ascension, he’s become a hot topic back home. Moyer’s family owns a catering business. One night, while he was making a delivery, Moyer drove by two different houses where people were starting to gather to watch one of Yesavage’s starts.

Yesavage has not forgotten where he came from, either. He texted Moyer after a Boyertown playoff game in the spring to let him know he was keeping track of the team.

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That’s also part of his DNA. Yesavage remembers the stops he made along the way this year, and takes pride in representing every level of the minor leagues on this stage.

“It’s really special,” he said. “I’ve got guys from Dunedin to Vancouver, New Hampshire, Buffalo that are texting me, congratulating me.”

The whirlwind few months haven’t been simple, though. Yesavage is living out of a hotel in Toronto, and his Toyota Tundra truck is piled with so much stuff he joked that it looks like a mobile home.

Through it all, he doesn’t exactly carry himself like a typical 22-year-old. He sat in front of the World Series backdrop at the Rogers Centre on Thursday and fielded dozens of questions like a seasoned veteran. Yesavage doesn’t have an explanation for it.

“This is just who I am,” he said. “I don’t know, my parents raised me this way.”

Yesavage’s parents and two brothers are driving up from Pennsylvania on Friday for Game 1. Moyer will be one of the many people tuning in from Yesavage’s hometown.

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The first player to step into the batter’s box on Friday will be Shohei Ohtani. Yesavage will take just one moment, the length of time it takes him to jog out to the mound, to soak it all in. The lights, the stage, the sold-out crowd. Where he started; where he is now.

“Then,” Yesavage said, “it’s time for work.”