Blue Jays pitching phenom drawing strong praise as the top prospect of his age group

Toronto Blue Jays fans, and the broader baseball world, got a front row ticket to the exceptional talent that Trey Yesavage posses. The young pitching phenom was sensational in his three game regular season call up, and then exceeded all expectations with an unforgettable playoff run.

As the 22-year-old right hander looks to break camp with the major league team for the first time this spring, he's already being mentioned as the best prospect of his age group by MLB.com.

Blue Jays pitching phenom drawing strong praise as the top prospect of his age group

MLB.com recently looked at the best prospects in baseball from ages 16-25 and they named Yesavage as the top 22-year-old to watch. Ben Weinrib writes, "Yesavage truly did it all in his first campaign, appearing at every full-season level in the Minors before making his MLB debut in September.

With an extreme over-the-top delivery (7.09 ft, second among pitchers only to Justin Verlander), his combination of a rising fastball and devastating splitter, with a promising slider and curve to boot, enabled him to rack up 160 K's in 98 Minor League innings. And after dominating in the postseason, he's going to shoot up the Top 100, potentially into the top 10."

At the end of the day, it won't matter much to Blue Jays fans where Yesavage is on the rankings, as long as he can perform to the level he showed he can in his first stint in the big leagues. And maybe that is an unfair expectation to put on someone who is still considered a "prospect." But the fact that he's already being given a shot to have an inside track to earning a spot in the rotation, says a lot about what the organization thinks of him and his talent.

Under the Ross Atkins regime as the Blue Jays general manager, the amount of drafted players who have turned into serviceable major league starting pitchers has been scarce. Yesavage could be the first of those that reverses that trend.