Trey Yesavage's 'New Pitch' Is Actually an Old Pitch

[Simon Li]

Trey Yesavage took the world by storm in 2025 with his high release point that led to a high rising fastball and a devastating splitter to pair alongside it. His third pitch is a harder gyro slider that sits in between the velo of his fastball and splitter, which forces hitters to guess when a pitch will be lower in the zone.

The quirk of Yesavage’s arsenal is that none of his pitches break to the glove side, largely due to his release point and delivery, which make him such a nightmare for hitters to face. That does raise a concern, however, as if hitters know which direction his pitches are always going to move, will they figure him out faster than a pitcher with a more traditional four-pitch mix with pitches that break in both directions? And even if Yesavage remains effective with his current style of pitching, will he be able to stave off the three times through the order effect with just three pitches, or will he be able to get outs when one of his pitches isn’t 'on' on a certain day? Will he be able to maintain effectiveness over 30-ish starts, when division rivals are likely to see him multiple times?

Graphic via @TJStats

Meet the ‘new’ pitch, which is really an old pitch. Yesavage threw a low-80s 12-6 curveball in college, but since his three main pitches were so polished, it was a clear fourth pitch for him. Shape-wise, the curveball had little depth, with -7 inches of induced vertical break, and once again broke to the arm side. Baseball America gave the pitch a 45 FV grade, and with his limited usage of it in college, Yesavage wasn’t able to get a good enough feel for it to throw it in professional baseball. However, this didn’t mean that he completely left the curveball to rot. In August 2024, Mitch Bannon (now the Blue Jays beat reporter for The Athletic) reported that Yesavage was tinkering with a cutter and a curveball that he wanted to add prior to the 2025 season.

This offseason, Yesavage has done more of the same, talking about adding a new pitch. Specifically, he mentioned bringing the curveball back to his arsenal in a recent interview with Jays reporters. The 22-year-old said that he “would love something that moves glove side.”

So, what would this curveball look like for Yesavage? Given the uniqueness of his release point, it’s difficult to imagine how exactly a curve would look shape-wise, but a key to it being an effective pitch for Yesavage will be depth and movement to the glove side.

Yesavage’s delivery allows him to be very behind the baseball when he throws his fastball, leading to the fifth highest active spin for four-seamers in 2025. This, however, creates an issue when he’s throwing his breaking balls, as not having cut-ride characteristics makes it difficult for Yesavage to supinate and get the glove side movement that pitchers like Justin Verlander and Nick Pivetta do. Both are high arm angle pitchers with high release points. 

Verlander and Pivetta were the only two pitchers in 2025 with an average release height of at least 6.8 feet that threw at least 100 curveballs at that release height, but Yesavage would find it difficult to replicate the shape of their breaking balls due to how efficient his four-seamer is. Verlander and Pivetta both have curveballs with at least 7 inches of glove side movement as well as over -12 inches of induced vertical break, which is a different beast compared to Yesavage's college curveball shape. 

There is a pitcher who has a similar profile to Yesavage, with a curveball that might be more similar to one Yesavage should be able to throw, and that is Bradley Blalock, recently traded from the Rockies to the Marlins. Another north-south pitcher with a high arm angle, Blalock has seen tough results due to pitching in Colorado. Yet, similar to Yesavage, he has > 99% active spin on his four-seamer, making it more difficult to supinate and get significant glove-side break.

Blalock’s shapes were depressed by pitching in Coors, but on the road, he was able to get 1.4 inches of glove side movement and -11.3 inches of vertical break in 2025. Similar to Yesavage's in college, Blalock’s curveball sat in the low 80s as well. It’s weird looking at a pitcher with a 9.31 ERA and 7.31 FIP as someone Yesavage should replicate, but given the limitations of Yesavage's delivery, it’s difficult to find a shape that would work for him without changing what he’s best at. 

Here’s how his movement profile will look with a curveball similar to Blalock’s:

 

Adding a curveball with this shape will help Yesavage perform much better against right-handed hitters. Although his slider and splitter were both effective, he performed much better against lefties than righties in 2025, with a 20.0 K-BB% against lefties compared to just a 7.4 K-BB% against same-handed hitters.

A curveball that moves even slightly to the glove side will prevent hitters from knowing that all his pitches move to the arm side, and it should add an extra split-second to their decision-making process. Although Yesavage's funky delivery should help suppress familiarity, adding a fourth solid pitch will also make third time through the order penalties less severe and give him more options in pitch sequencing.

The curveball is something that Yesavage has been tinkering with for years, however, and even if he can get its shape to a point where it will enhance his arsenal, he’ll still have to learn how to command it and get a feel for it. If he’s able to do that successfully, he'll have added another weapon to a devastating arsenal. 

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