BASEBALL: Trey Yesavage, part-time student / full-time World Series hero

Trey Yesavage hesitated before explaining why he couldn’t join the celebration for the Blue Jays’ first AL East title in a decade. Just a month later, he’d be rewriting World Series record books and carrying Toronto within one win of a championship. But on that September night, the 22-year-old rookie stood in a quiet clubhouse with a simple reason for leaving early.

“I have homework,” he said.

Months earlier, before his meteoric rise from Low-A ball to the heart of a pennant race, Yesavage assumed he’d have time to balance baseball and four online fall classes — one of them in media criticism. He never expected to become the story himself. Each of his eight big-league starts felt bigger than the last, culminating in a calm, commanding Game 5 against the Dodgers. Under the brightest lights, Yesavage struck out 12 in a 6-1 win — one of the most dominant performances in franchise history.

“This kid just shoved,” said teammate Braydon Fisher. “Now he’s got homework.”

After Game 162, the Blue Jays managed to pull Yesavage into the celebrations — briefly. He went, he smiled, then went home to finish his assignments. But the champagne kept flowing, and the rookie kept earning it. Each week since that division-clincher, Yesavage had given Toronto another reason to celebrate. By Wednesday, he’d brought them to the brink of baseball’s biggest party.

His calm under pressure wasn’t always there. In his final high school game, on the turf mound at Boyertown, Pennsylvania, Yesavage slipped mid-delivery. His longtime coach, Todd Moyer — who’d known him since youth basketball — thought he was injured and pulled him from the game. Boyertown lost 1-0, ending Yesavage’s high school career. He still remembers his near-miss at the plate — a deep fly ball to center that came up just short.

“One more squat, one more bench press,” he said. “That ball would’ve been gone.” The stages only grew from there — from East Carolina University to Low-A Dunedin, and now the World Series. Against Los Angeles, Yesavage became the youngest pitcher ever to record double-digit strikeouts in the Fall Classic — and the only rookie to ever reach 12. Unlike that painful high school ending, this time manager John Schneider didn’t take the ball from him.

“Historic stuff,” Schneider said. For 6⅓ innings at Dodger Stadium, Yesavage kept his emotions in check. Once quick to frustration as a teen, he’d learned composure through college and the minors, discovering that his edge came from balance — holding his fire until the moment demanded it. “I’m cool, calm, collected,” Yesavage said. “But when I get a big punchout, you’re gonna know.”

When he froze Tommy Edman with a double-play ball to end the seventh, he finally let go — flexing both arms, roaring toward the dugout, pointing to Ernie Clement as the Jays escaped the jam. The control, then the eruption — it’s become his trademark. 

Moyer now compares him to Ferdinand the Bull: calm, thoughtful, patient — until it’s time to fight. That tranquility is what keeps Yesavage grounded, the same calm that kept him from an afterparty to finish his coursework. He didn’t know a World Series would interrupt his semester. He didn’t know a sealed bottle of tequila would sit by his locker as a memento of history. He didn’t know how quickly his name would belong beside legends. 

Because for all the dominance, all the records, and all the champagne, Trey Yesavage is still a kid — one who’s pushed the Toronto Blue Jays to the doorstep of immortality, and still remembers to turn in his homework.

RS/MS