LISTEN | Full interview with Trey Yesavage’s high school baseball coach, Todd Moyer:
As It Happens6:06Trey Yesavage is turning Pennsylvanians into Jays fans, says high school coach
Boyertown, Penn., has always been a big baseball town. But now, as one of their own becomes a rising star in the World Series, it’s quickly becoming a Blue Jays town, too.
Trey Yesavage, the 22-year-old rookie Toronto Blue Jays pitcher, was born in Pottstown, Penn., and grew up in nearby Boyertown, where he played for his high school team, under coach Todd Moyer.
“I was at a bowling alley and there was people there with Yesavage T-shirts on, uniform shirts,” Moyer told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. “There’s a lot of Toronto Blue Jays fans in PA.”
Yesavage, who began this season deep in the minor leagues, has captured Blue Jays fans’ hearts during the World Series — especially during Game 5 on Wednesday when he struck out L.A. Dodgers players 12 times, breaking the Major League Baseball record for most strikeouts by a rookie in a post-season game.
Moyer, Yesavage’s former coach and old family friend, spoke to Kӧksal on Thursday, the day before Game 6 in Toronto. Here is part of their conversation.
Todd, what is happening to you as you watch [Game 5] unfold?
I’ve seen him strike out a lot of younger guys. But for him to strike out the Yankees the way he did and then go back out in L.A., you know, in that hostile environment, and absolutely handle it like a true professional was just amazing. You know, I can’t describe it any other way except amazing.
You speak to his parents regularly. You just were messaging with his dad, right?
Definitely. His mom grew up a couple miles away from me, but I was actually the baseball coach when she was in high school, so that’s been a while. And she was a pretty good athlete. He comes by it honestly, as far as his athletic ability. It’s a pretty athletic family.
But for him to do what he’s doing in the amount of time that it’s taken to do it, you know, it’s never been done.
Yesavage celebrates with his parents after defeating the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Rogers Centre. (John E. Sokolowski/Imagn Images/Reuters)
What did you say to his dad [after Game 5]?
I texted him a picture of the Tasmanian devil. And then just after the game, after he got taken out, I just texted him: “Awesome.”
Awesome is right. Did you see this when you were coaching him? Because you coached him for his entire high school baseball career. So did you see hints, glimmers of this?
He was a 10th-grade kid and he threw a no-hitter against the top team in the league that year, and did it rather easily…. When he came off the mound, it was like he’d done it many times before.
I watch him in the dugout sometimes and you can tell he’s pretty calm, pretty cool, pretty focused. Takes his hat off, does his little moment.
He refocuses, resets, and goes out and does his job one inning at a time. It’s just amazing to watch.
Have you talked to him since he got called up, even before the series?
When he got called up I couldn’t go to the game because I couldn’t get my passport. It took three months to get my passport. And now that I couldn’t do the first game, I’m a little superstitious. I can’t go there for any of them until he’s done
WATCH | Yesavage’s former pitching coach weighs in on rookie’s rising star:
Yesavage was an ‘ultra-competitor’ — even as a teen, former coach says
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage has always been a unique pitcher, Shaun Vernesoni, co-owner of the Keystone State Bombers and Yesavage’s former pitching coach says. ‘He’s always been the same guy: He’s been dominant.’
What did you say when he got called up?
When he got called to the AA, we were in the Reading Stadium, I was sitting there in the front row taking some pictures for the area paper and the area websites and watching the game. And I was like, I can’t believe he’s here already. And then that quick he was in AAA.
And the next thing you know he’s across the lake in the big stadium.
Were you surprised when they started him in Game 1?
I was on the news here, and I said … “I hope the coach knows what he’s doing.”
And, obviously, he knew what he was doing.
I think he’s still living out of hotels and then putting stuff in his car. He was saying, too, it’s nice to realize [he’s] going to be a full-time Major League baseball player now. That’s incredible, too.
The second time [his] mom and dad went up to Toronto, he had trouble getting from his room into the stadium because there were so many fans on the runway that he had to go through to get in. They were already waiting for him and then greeting him. And this was hours before the game.
It was just phenomenal for me to hear that. They were sitting up in the hotel room and he couldn’t get in the building to pitch, you know, because there was people waiting for him to cheer him on.
Jay’s fans are pretty diehard, even the new ones, I bet, in Boyertown.
There’s some pretty die-hard ones here, too.
Is that creating any conflict? They might love Trey, but you’ve got baseball fans there that aren’t Jays fans.
Well, it didn’t hurt him at all when he pitched against the Yankees because there aren’t many Yankees fans.
And then to do what he did and, you know, it took him two attempts to get [Yankees outfielder] Aaron Judge, but everybody celebrated that one because he’s a phenomenal baseball player, and for our guy to go out and strike him out was amazing.
I don’t know what’s next. I can’t imagine what’s next. But you know, we’re banking on him bringing a World Series ring home.
