Trey Yesavage pleads for negativity towards his family to stop

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Before Trey Yesavage could express his excitement about the big personal news of the day—that he would start Game 2 of the ALCS on Monday—the Blue Jays' 22-year-old rookie sensation had to say something.

And it wasn't entirely pleasant.

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Essentially, without going into detail, Yesavage begged people to stop attacking his family, an odious byproduct of his impressive rise to prominence with the Blue Jays.

“I want to start by saying something,” Yesavage said while speaking to the media Sunday at the Rogers Center. “Living in this world where there are so many different opinions and feelings that create a lot of hatred, it is sad to see people close to me being attacked for my performances on the field.

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“These people did nothing to justify my actions being viewed negatively, whether it was my parents, my brothers, my girlfriend, my family. It's just very sad.”

Yesavage declined to go into detail, but it was clear that whatever violence occurred – whether during the Yankees series or online – was serious enough for him to deal with. He got off to a stellar start in Game 2 against the Yankees here at Rogers Center, and the team hopes he can back that up on Monday when the stakes continue to rise.

“I hope people understand that these people have nothing to do with what happens on the field or anything else,” Yesavage continued. “If you have problems, I'm a man. I can accept any opinion anyone has about me or my life. I just wanted to express it.”

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When asked if he was willing to ask a follow-up question, Yesavage replied, “We can move on.”

Unaware of the severity of the hatred that Yesavage spoke of, now that it has become open, there is a possibility that the idiots on social media will intervene with more truthfulness, although when addressing it, the young right-hander was hoping for the opposite.

It's clear the Jays are rallying around their young pitcher, who has made a remarkable rise through four minor league stints to the big leagues and is now viewed as a big weapon for the ALCS.

“I give him a lot of credit for being a 22-year-old who just arrived in the big leagues and I understand that he has a really, really good support system around him and a platform to talk about it,” manager John Schneider said.

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“It kind of just adds to his maturity level. There wasn't a lot of hate; he just said it was new to him, obviously. But I think he's protective of the people that are close to him. I respect him for saying that.”

While backing Yesavage, Schneider acknowledged that the unspecified incidents are an unfortunate downside of the attention that comes with being in the big leagues.

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“Unfortunately, this is reality,” the manager said. “I think the more you do it, the more you get used to it. I thank him for saying what he said and for the support of people who love and support him.”

On a lighter note, Yesavage said he never intended to pitch in Game 4 in New York on Wednesday, despite walking to the bullpen.

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“It was just a decoy,” Yesavage said. “I was told to come on in the fourth inning, which I did. But I thought it was funny, just to find out how crazy this baseball is in the playoffs, and there's a ton of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that the average fan doesn't even know about.”

“I thought it was really cool.”

As for the task that awaits the Mariners on Thanksgiving Monday, the Pennsylvania native is ready to go.

“It's still pretty wild,” Yesavage said. “I never thought I'd be here in this situation this year. Every day is something new and I'm very lucky to be learning this in such a young career.”

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