The Blue Jays have a second Trey Yesavage on their hands
Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
One of the biggest stories for the Toronto Blue Jays last season was Trey Yesavage, who moved up four levels all the way to the World Series in just one year, what made Yesavage so unique was his high release point, well another Blue Jays prospect Kai Peterson is doing the same.
Except Peterson's release point is much lower than the average pitcher, but similar to Yesavage he uses unique angles to mess with opposing batters.
Peterson's low release point is key to his sucess.
Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reported on how the Peterson struggled after his Tommy John surgery, he couldn't pass the 87 MPH mark on his fastball following the procedure, but one little adjustment changed everything for him.
"Kai Peterson felt like his progress had plateaued when he came across a video of Josh Hader. Taken by the fellow lefty's twisting windup and unusual arm angle, he decided to imitate the motion at his next side session, ended up hitting 91 and decided that was his path forward."-Davidi
Peterson went from a classic over the top motion, to now being at around shoulder height, which is much lower than the average MLB pitcher.
Peterson managed to get his velocity up, but it still below average when talking about a Major League pitcher, meaning he will have to rely on his unorthodox release to get him strikeouts.
"We're seeing it with Trey (Yesavage) right now, where he has an extremely high release point and hitters struggle with that. You see it with low release heights, too. I remember reading an article about Spencer Strider talking about how after his TJ, he was trying to lower his release height and improve extension. Everybody throws 100 now, so it's trying to play with the angles of the game.»-Peterson
Between Low-A and High-A Peterson struck out 91 batters in 49.2 innings in 2024, and 61 more in 50.1 frames between Vancouver and in double-A New Hampshire this year, while cutting down his walks-per-nine rate from an alarming 7.8 to 5.2. If he continues on this path and gets his velocity up a little, there's a good chance he'll be in the Majors in the near future.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 5 | 863 ANSWERS The Blue Jays have a second Trey Yesavage on their hands Will Kai Peterson make the Toronto Blue Jays roster by 2028? | ||
| Yes | 518 | 60 % |
| No | 345 | 40 % |
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