Maybe it’s because seventeen billion rookie pitchers were called up this past August/September, but it feels like there’s more pitchers in this year’s crop of rookie fantasy outlook posts, and also I won’t be doing anymore pitchers. One more on Friday, then on Monday starts the fantasy baseball sleepers and rankings start on Patreon. That means I won’t be doing a post for Payton Tolle, Andrew Painter, Connelly Early, Parker Messick, Luis Morales, Troy Melton, JR Ritchie, Logan Henderson, Rhett Lowder and on and on for rookie starters. Usually that means they won’t be included in the rankings, but I think a few if not all of them will be. Just not enough time to go over them in-depth–Well, if you click on their names, I promise you all of them have been discussed further. I’m actually pretty sure Andrew Painter has been discussed in-depth for the last three years. Phils never promote a prospect, choosing to give us slop from Aaron Nola for years and years — AN slop indeed! Any hoo! I saved maybe the best rookie pitcher for last in Trey Yesavage. So, what can we expect from Trey Yesavage for 2026 fantasy baseball?
If the Jays didn’t trust Trey Yesavage in the postseason, would I be as confident a 22-year-old would be in their 2026 plans? No, but he was, and flat-out dominant at times in the playoffs, and even when he gave up an untimely homer, he still wiped the floor with strikeouts to some of the game’s best hitters. He appeared at 61 overall on Jakkers dynasty starters rankings, and he wrote up a whole post for Trey Yesavage fantasy. Mean’s while, Itch said previously, “At 6’4” 225 lbs, Yesavage has strength and balance throughout his delivery, which helps him command a four-pitch arsenal highlighted by a dynamic splitter that tunnels well with his slider, fastball and curve. Also, I’m tunneling under Grey’s house and about to pop out like a groundhog and get his ass.” What?
There’s that splitter again mentioned, and by that I mean what I’ve said about five thousand times before, teach your kids to throw a splitter and they will be a MLB pitcher. Here’s the aforementioned splitter and other pitches:
39 Savage ?
All 11 strikeouts from Trey Yesavage’s #Postseason debut ? pic.twitter.com/q0DyWRKuyf
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 6, 2025
He’s barely out of college, and flew through the minors: 98 IP across four (!) levels with a 14.7 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and 3.12 ERA. The 14.7 K/9 is so silly that even if he gives a 10+ K/9 in the majors, how bad could things get? A 11 K/9 wipes away the sins of a 3.5 BB/9 completely. I don’t know if he gets there, but that’s within the realm of possibilities. My conservative feel on him will be 10.4 K/9 with a 4 BB/9. If the previous stats wiped away sins, then what is that? A bit sinful, I suppose. Nolan McLean is still my number one rookie starter for 2026; Tong or Yesavage are two. Anything can happen with ratios though. A 10.4 K/9 with a 4 BB/9 is scary but Luis Gil took those kind of numbers in 2024 and made a top 25 starter year out of them. That’s admittedly the upside and pie-in-the-sky dreams and/or hopes. To give you more hopium, Yesavage had a 36.4% chase rate in his very limited MLB regular season 14 innings. Tarik Skubal led the majors last year with a 34.8%. Ha! I am howling. No, he won’t be Tarik Skubal (at least not in 2026), but the upside is immense if he ever commands his pitches. For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Trey Yesavage projections of 8-8/3.88/1.38/154 in 133 IP with a chance for much more.
Rank the top 4 targets in a trade for a 12 team points league
Musgrove, Abbott, Correa, Walner, Canzone, Moniak, Laureano, Friedl
Thank you sir
There’s not a top 4 here, why do you want these guys?
Abbott, Moniak, Friedl, bleh
It’s a deep ottoneu where we can keep as many as we want, all about the $ and staying within budget. I have 3 catchers and am trying to trade Sal Perez but not many teams want to trade for a catcher. Otherwise I’m just dropping him for nothing.
Maybe Laureano then
Actually Abbott, Canzone, Moniak…
Appreciate it. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Thanks…giving! You too!
I am really worried that Yesavage’s approach is going to make his 12:00 splitter his only pitch. Is the splitter amazing? Yeah! Can he combine it with a fast ball? Yeah! Can he throw any kind of breaking ball or change up at 12:00 without telegraphing it is not a fast ball or a splitter? Probably not.
Throwing a 12:00 splitter sight unseen for a handful of games in the playoffs is one thing… to use it for a whole season is another. A two-pitch starter is not a long term recipe for success… but it could make him Gausman 2.0… which is decent.
Yeah, you might be right, but it’ll be a while before everyone has seen him repeatedly
Aw geez, I picked Trey up late in the season, and I could keep him at $20 for the next 2 years. AL-only, 10 teams, 5×5.
Grey, would I be insane to keep him at 20 bucks??
Seems kinda high
Thanks for the reality check!
No problem
6 x 6 10 Team Dynasty $260 Salary Cap/40 Player Roster OBP/SLG and QS/IP – My team has won three years in a row and I need to shed salary. Here is my roster and the players in bold are the ones I plan to drop/trade if possible:
U – Ohtani – $32
U – Y. Alvarez – $25
1B – Naylor – $9
2B – Chisholm – $22
SS – Witt Jr – $21
3B – Machado – $40
MI – Henderson – $13
CI – Lewis – $9
OF – Tucker – $27
OF – Wood – $5
OF – Chourio – $13
OF – JRod – $21
OF – LuBob – $21
C – Goodman – $1
C – A.Ramirez – $1
B – Trout – $50
B – Neto – $5
B – McLain – $9
B – Crews – $9
B – B. Lowe – $5
B – Etheridge – $1
B – Murakama – $1
B – Stewart – $1
B – McGonigle – $1
B – C. Smith – $1
SP – Skubal – $21
SP – Crochet – $5
SP – Woo – $10
SP – Ragans – $9
SP – Ryan – $13
SP – Schwellenbach – $7
SP – Bradish – $1
SP – Misiorowski – $1
RP – Munoz – $9
RP – Abreu – $1
B – King – $11
B – Bieber – $1
B – Sasaki – $5
B – Painter – $5
B – Weathers – $1
My salary is $443 so I need to cut $183 – the plan is to drop/trade the guys in bold which will add up to $136 which leaves me with $47 to drop – I have offered the following two trades:
Ryan for Rooker ($5) – adds $5
Tucker/Henderson for Skenes ($9)/Langford ($9) – subracts $22
Those two trades will lower the amount I need to drop to $30. What combination of players who are not in bold would you drop to get to $30?
B – Etheridge – $1
B – Murakama – $1
B – Stewart – $1
B – McGonigle – $1
Brandon Lowe
OF – LuBob – $21
It’s a good thing I don’t do projections. I would just extrapolate this dude’s playoff performance, draft him ahead of Skubal!! …finish last in all of my leagues …then probably place a bucket on my head and wander into traffic
Haha, but if it’s a Dubble Bubble bucket, it would smell so wonderful, like a bygone youth
No doubt. That’s the most wonderful smell! Especially if you’re about to get steamrolled whilst wandering in traffic.
And methinks my jaw is still sore from cramming four pieces at a time in me piehole in said youth!
I was in cincy recently and did a tour of GABP and never saw so much dubble bubble. Amazing more players don’t have TMJ
For sure. I’m guessing MLB’s TMJ is as bad as the NFL’s CTE…minus all of the brain damage and murders (wut?)
Hahaha
I’ll take it! He was so beastly in the playoffs that I’m willing to gamble on him. I just fear someone in my league will reach for him.
Lucky Dog! My favorite hot sauce purveyor…guess who tried to make some hot sauce himself? I’m coming for ya!