Yankees legends, and the MLB world, in awe of Trey Yesavage's MLB postseason debut

Trey Yesavage has taken MLB by storm after his MLB postseason debut. Before this game, the Blue Jays’ highly touted prospect made his MLB debut on September 15 against the Tampa Bay Rays, pitching five innings, allowing one earned run, and striking out nine. Fans hyped the righty, but his best was yet to come.

Yankees legends and the MLB world are in awe of Trey Yesavage

In Game 2 of the ALDS, Yesavage was stellar. He pitched 5 1/3 hitless innings, allowed one walk, and struck out 11 on 78 pitches. His splitter-changeup was especially effective, producing eight of the strikeouts and keeping hitters off balance.

Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter praised Yesavage's performance. Jeter said, "I'm glad I don’t play anymore...". Given Jeter's history as a top contact hitter, his reaction underscores Yesavage's talent. The rookie’s arm angle and fastball velocity make his pitches tough to read.

Mark DeRosa called Yesavage’s splitter-changeup "wiffle ball type stuff." His fastball hit 101 mph, and his offspeed pitches were unhittable. The splitter averaged 84 mph with 31.5 inches of vertical drop and 11.4 inches of armside break. His slider averaged 89 mph with a 29.2-inch vertical drop and 3.4-inch armside break.

The armside break is the highest of any MLB breaking ball (minimum 50 thrown). A righty’s slider breaking back into right-handed hitters is rare, and Yankee hitters couldn't pick up either of Yesavage’s breaking balls.

The defining moment for Yesavage was at the top of the third inning, when Trent Grisham had a full count with two outs in a 2-0 Blue Jays lead. Aaron Judge is on deck, so you know Yesavage doesn’t want to walk Grisham. It's logical to think the next pitch would be a fastball right down the middle to avoid the walk and to avoid facing Judge with a runner on base.

However, Yesavage throws a chest-high splitter, inside on the left-handed hitting Grisham, and it breaks back over the plate for a strike three call. This pitch decision demonstrated Yesavage's courage and comfort level in relying on his offspeed pitch in such a high-leverage moment. He went on to strike out Grisham to end the inning.

Batters are 2-for-29 off the rookie's splitter, and it's been the strikeout pitch against 18 batters over Yesavage's 14 innings combined between the MLB regular season and postseason.

Yesavage produced one of the most significant postseason debuts in MLB history, if not of any sport. The 22-year-old has Blue Jays fans drooling at what the future may look like with Yesavage leading the rotation. The future is bright for the youngster, and if the Blue Jays advance to the ALCS, it'll be interesting to see how Yesavage backs this performance up.