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.
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.