Blue Jays sign first-round pick Trey Yesavage above slot value

NEW YORK — The Toronto Blue Jays and first-round draft pick Trey Yesavage reached agreement on a $4,177,500 bonus, according to an industry source, a slightly over slot signing for the East Carolina right-hander selected 20^th overall.

Assigned value for the pick was $4,073,400, and the Blue Jays also went well above slot for lefty Johnny King in the third round ($1,247,500, $480,300 overage) and fellow high-schooler Carson Messina, a righty picked in the 12^th round ($550,000, $400,000 overage), according to another industry source.

But they created savings in their $8,987,000 bonus pool with under-slot deals for second-rounder Khal Stephen ($1,116,750, which was $372,250 under) and seven others in their top 10, according to Baseball America’s draft database.

The signing deadline for 2024 draft picks is 5 p.m. ET Thursday.

Each pick in the first 10 rounds is assigned a value and the total makes up a team’s bonus pool. Anything over $150,000 for players selected in Rounds 11-20 also counts against the pool, and overages of up to five per cent of a team’s total allotment are taxed at 75 per cent. Overages beyond five per cent are punished more onerously, beginning with the loss of a future first-round pick and 75 per cent tax for spending beyond 5-10 per cent.

Even with Yesavage and King, the Blue Jays went $108,450 under slot in their first 10 rounds, but deals for 11^th rounder Troy Guthrie and Messina push them to $341,550 over. They can exceed their bonus pool by up to $449,350 without surrendering a future draft pick.

Yesavage was among the top arms available in the 2024 draft and expected to go in the top 10 but as other teams worked to manipulate their bonus pools, he slid to the Blue Jays.

A polished 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-hander who commands a fastball that sits 93-95 m.p.h. and gets up to 97, he also features a slider and a splitter/changeup the Blue Jays feel are his key secondary offerings.

They trust his ability to throw strikes, and scouting director Shane Farrell said after Yesavage’s selection that “from his release height and his slot, he tunnels his pitches extremely well and there's some added deception to his mix.”

Yesavage logged 93.1 innings over 15 starts this season after carrying 76 frames over 16 games, two of them relief appearances, last year at East Carolina.

“He's a big, physical right-handed starter with three above-average pitches,” Farrell said on draft night. “He's proven to be durable and held good workloads through his time at East Carolina. He's shown that his secondary pitches and fastball quality are really strong. We're thrilled to be able to be able to add him.”