Toronto rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage will throw the first pitch of the 2025 World Series on Friday night in a game scheduled for 8 p.m. on FOX.

Yesavage is just a season removed from an All-American junior year at East Carolina. He was a first round draft pick by the Blue Jays in 2024.

He is a source of pride for Pirate Nation, but he didn’t initially commit to ECU.

“It was not a typical recruitment,” said Pirates coach Cliff Godwin on Thursday morning. “It was different. He was committed to a different school.”

Yesavage, a native of Boyerstown, PA, was headed to Pitt. Godwin noted that Yesavage had a relationship with the Panthers pitching coach that was the determining factor in his first college choice.

When the pitching coach, Jerry Oakes, now at Elon in that same capacity, left Pitt, Yesavage reopened his recruitment. ECU assistant Jeff Palumbo contacted Yesavage’s travel coach.

“We watched video and, of course the travel coach spoke of Trey’s  character and work ethic and all those things,” Godwin said. “We missed a lot during COVID on recruits, but, man, we made up for it on Trey Yesavage, for sure.”

Yesavage became a Pirate in a mutually-beneficial situation.  As a junior, he went 11-1 with a 2.02 earned run average. He had 145 strikeouts with 32 walks in 93 and one-third innings.

Developmental curve

Under the tutelage of Pirate pitching coach Austin Knight with hard work and the developmental aspect of summer ball, Yesavage went from a 2-pitch arsenal to command four pitches.

“I told this story to our team a few weeks ago,” Godwin said. “Trey wasn’t good in the fall his freshman year. His command wasn’t great. He had a fast ball, had a breaking ball, 12 to six breaking ball that he would bounce a lot. Sometimes he’d bounce it over catcher’s head.”

Yesavage added a cutter and a splitter at ECU. He became the Friday night starter as a sophomore and eventually learned about the personal commitment required for those prime-time assignments.

“His mentality has always been super competitive, but also not making the moment bigger than it is,” Godwin said. “You can see that coming into play right now, which is cool. And a guy that just works his tail off, who’s voted the hardest working pitcher on our pitching staff by his peers in the fall of ’23 — with that kind of talent.”

Godwin reinforced the combination of talent and hard work that makes Yesavage a force.

Closer

Former ECU pitchers could start and finish tonight. Jeff Hoffman, a Blue Jays draft choice in 2014, had 33 saves during the regular season and got the save in game seven of the American League championship series on Monday night against Seattle as he struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth.

Yesavage got the win in game six and Hoffman pitched the last two frames with four whiffs.

“Get the first strike and attack the zone,” Hoffman said in the postgame interview on FOX after game seven. “I didn’t want to get to Cal Raleigh.”

Staying in touch

Godwin was on hand for Yesavage’s MLB debut at Tampa Bay on Sept. 15. He struck out nine in five innings in a 2-1 win.

“We got a chance to go on the field after the game and saw Trey and Hoffman.,” Godwin said. “Hoffman pitched in that game at the Yankee spring training site. That was Trey’s debut.

” … I actually got to go to game six (ALCS) and got to go underneath afterwards with the Yesavage family. Jon Gilbert (athletic director) and J.J. (McLamb, athletic administrator) were with me. We got to see Trey and Jeff. Got to spend some time with them. It was awesome.”

Pirates in MLB

Former ECU players in MLB this season also included Zach Agnos, Shawn Armstrong, Alec Burleson, Connor Norby, Carson Whisenhunt and Gavin Williams. Former Pirate catcher Clayton McCullough managed Miami.

Does Godwin have some future major leaguers in the program at present?

“I would hope so,” the Pirate skipper said. “There’s no crystal ball.”

Yesavage is an example of where hard work and talent can take a Pirate.

Maness

Yesavage and Hoffman would be the first Pirates to pitch in the fall classic since Seth Maness with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013.

Recruiting impact

Will ECU’s presence in the majors translate into recruiting?

“We would hope,” Godwin said. “It is a positive for us.”