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To win its Wild Card series against the Red Sox, the Yankees relied on the dominance of rookie righthander Cam Schlittler in the deciding Game 3.

Now the Blue Jays have use their own rookie righthander to push the Yankees to within one game of elimination. Trey Yesavage, the Blue Jays' 2024 first-round pick, struck out 11 of the 18 batter he faced in 5.1 hitless and scoreless innings. He walked off the mound with a 12-run lead, although the Yankees did battle back against the Blue Jays bullpen to eventually lose 13-7.

New York's hitters had no answer for Yesavage's splitter. The combination of his extremely over-the-top delivery and the Yankees' unfamiliarity with him proved deadly. This was only Yesavage's fourth start in the major leagues, and only the second time this year he's pitched into the sixth inning.

Yesavage got 11 swings and misses on his splitter (69% whiff rate) and four more on his slider (67% whiff rate). He also got two on his four-seam fastball (22% whiff rate).

Yesavage struck out four of the first five batters he faced (Aaron Judge walked). He then struck out the side in the third and the fourth. An error by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the fifth allowed New York's second baserunner of the day, but Yesavage easily pitched around that by getting Ryan McMahon to pop out before Anthony Volpe struck out. Another infield fly in the sixth ended his outing.

Yesavage allowed only three balls out of the infield among the 18 batters he faced (one fly out, one line out and the error on Guerrero). It was a completely dominating performance that ranks among the best pitched postseason games in Blue Jays' history.

Just 492 days earlier, Yesavage was still pitching in college for East Carolina.

Yesavage’s rise from college ace to postseason centerpiece in barely a year isn’t an anomaly—it’s the new pace of progress. Across baseball, the once-gradual climb from draft night to the big leagues has collapsed from years into months, reshaping how teams build and how fans follow the sport.

In 2025, 27 players made their major league debuts within two years of their draft season. That group included Yesavage, Burns and Kurtz, Baseball America’s Rookie of the Year. That trio was among eight 2024 draft picks who have already reached the majors.

The year before, 28 players climbed the same accelerated path, including nine from the 2023 draft class. Among them was Paul Skenes, now a 2025 Cy Young lock less than two years removed from Pittsburgh drafting him first overall out of LSU. Skenes this year became the first pitcher in the live-ball era to post a qualified sub-2.00 ERA, 25% strikeout rate or batter and sub-6.0% walk rate in their age-23 season or younger.

And in 2023, 29 players reached the big leagues within two years of being drafted—the most in at least 25 years.

Those numbers are a stark increase from a previous generation of draft picks.

And as Jacob Rudner explains below, don’t expect that to slow down any time soon.

5 More Underrated Dynasty Prospects

Last week, we identified 13 underrated pitchers and nine underrated hitters with underlying traits to target for fantasy in 2026. But why stop there? This week, we're presenting a couple more hurlers who didn't quite make the cut but still have compelling stuff, and a few more batters with the desirable Statcast traits that may suggest better future run production compared to their surface-level stats.

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