about Trey led us to feel comfortable enough to go and offer him a scholarship to East Carolina, and thank goodness we did.”

     When Yesavage first came to ECU, he was not the finished product you see now. His talent began to emerge his freshman year, slowly but surely. Yesavage started pitching out of the bullpen as a relief pitcher and experienced some ups and downs, but continued to improve.   

     “He looked like a major leaguer even when he stepped foot on our campus physically, but his ability to command the baseball was not what it is now,” Palumbo said. 

     Early in Yesavage's freshman year, ECU would put him into different high-pressure situations that they needed to get out of. Yesavage could strike guys out and escape many of those jams. ECU was able to see that he was going to accomplish big things from the beginning of his time there.  

     “That quiet confidence starts to show up where lots of times you’ll put a freshman into that situation and they will kinda go the other direction, but that's probably some of the first times where we started to think, he's a little bit different,” Palumbo said.

     Sophomore year, Yesavage earned a spot in the starting rotation, moving out of the bullpen, which led him to become ECU’s ace. ECU’s pitching coach, Austin Knight, was able to help fine-tune some of his different pitches and began working on his signature pitch, his splitter. 

     “Coach Knight did a really good job with him from a pitching standpoint, developing new pitches and bringing him along,” Palumbo said. “Coach Godwin does a great job just in terms of overall development of people in our baseball program.” 

     After his sophomore year, he went to play with Team USA baseball’s summer program and was their number one pitcher. Afterwards, he came back to ECU and had even greater achievements in 2024. Yesavage tied the ECU and American Conference single-season record for strikeouts, as well as won the American Athletic Conference pitching triple crown.

     “Trey is just the kind of person who was talented early; he experienced so much success here at East Carolina because of his talent, but you never would have known it,” Palumbo said. “He gets most excited when his teammates make a diving catch, he has his arms in the air, and is just the type of teammate that is all about the team, all about the other guys.”

     Yesavage was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays as the 20th overall pick in 2024. He worked his way through the minor leagues in less than a year and had his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on September 15th, 2025. During his MLB debut, Yesavage set a franchise record of nine strikeouts. The ECU community has come alongside Yesavage during his successes to cheer him on. 

     “It was really cool to see a lot of pirate logos and blue jays logos, kinda combining the two things and the support from so many people,” Palumbo said. 

     Yesavage has a large amount of potential success both professionally and personally to look forward to in his future. His attitude has attracted a growing group of supporters who will continue to root for him.

     “The sky's the limit; [he] is such a humble person that I think so many people have been drawn to him and his success because he does handle it right,” Palumbo said. “I think that you have almost an entire country and a half that has embraced this 22-year-old.” 

     ECU’s baseball fans have got to watch Yesavage's career unfold from his time at East Carolina to now.   

     “It's been awesome to see as a coach, and remembering who he was when he showed up on campus as a freshman and then watching him now,” Palumbo said. “He will continue to work and do all the right things, and as crazy as it sounds, I think he’s got brighter days ahead for sure.”