Toronto Blue Jays fans shouldn’t expect to see star rookie Trey Yesavage anytime soon.
The club announced that the righty will begin the season on IL due to shoulder impingement. In essence, the injury is a type of tendinitis in which the top of the shoulder presses down on the tendons, causing pain. That pain can go from mild to severe.
And for a pitcher, that’s no bueno.
Given the nature of the injury, it’s not something that a pitcher can just work through. It’s the type of injury that requires rest and careful monitoring. That’s why Blue Jays fans won’t be seeing much of Yesavage early in the season.
But as MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson noted, the timeline for Yesavage’s return is murky at best.
“I don’t think the Blue Jays are going to rush this, either. Nobody rushes a young pitcher.”
That’s the key to this entire situation. The Blue Jays won’t be pushing Yesavage to get back on the mound. They will take a measured approach with the 22-year-old. The Jays already went through a similar type of situation with Alek Manoah in the past.
“Very carefully, I use Alek Manoah as the example. I won’t go down that road, but we’re going to at least look at that road sign.”
So, Toronto won’t risk bringing back the organization’s most prized arm before he’s fully ready.
Blue Jays Need Yesavage to Be Fully Healthy
One of the most important points that Matheson made focused on Yesavage being fully healthy. The rationale lies in the fact that Yesavage needs to “get his stuff back.” In other words, his velocity and command can’t be below his usual standard.
Getting there could take some time. That’s why the plan is to ramp up Yesavage. Since the Blue Jays righty is apparently feeling better, the path forward would be to gradually increase his workload.
Based on Matheson’s assessment, Yesavage is pretty much back to the type of workload pitchers have at the beginning of Spring Training. By that measure, it could be another three to four weeks before the rookie righthander is ready to hit the mound in live action.
Again, that’s something the Blue Jays won’t rush. The philosophy seems to be that Yesavage will be ready when he’s ready.
Toronto May Need to Shut Down Yesavage at Some Point
There is also the real possibility that the Blue Jays will need to shut Yesavage down at some point. When he eventually returns, he’ll have limited pitch counts. Plus, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get extended breaks in between starts.
That’s all well and fine. But at what point do the Blue Jays decide to shut him down? Could there be a point, perhaps in the middle of the season, where the club decides to pull the plug?
That conversation could gain traction, especially if the Jays are in the playoff picture. The club will want to have Yesavage pitch in October. So, it would make sense to shut him down to conserve innings for the postseason.
That’s all speculation at this point, of course. The main goal will be to see if Yesavage can get back on the mound. From there, the main issue will be seeing if he can be as effective as he was in last year’s postseason.
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