SIMMONS: What comes next for Blue Jays phenom Trey Yesavage?

The occasion was deserving of more noise. And certainly greater applause.

Trey Yesevage walked from the bullpen to the dugout and then from the dugout to the mound on Tuesday, and it sounded no different than most Loonie Dogs nights sound at Rogers Centre.

Hardly anyone was standing as the kid made his way to throw his first pitches of what amounts to his first full major-league season. Hardly anyone was giving the moment its due.

This was Yesavage. The kid who did the near-impossible last summer, racing through five levels of baseball. The kid who struck out 12 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in one World Series outing. The kid who struck out 11 against the New York Yankees in the playoffs. The kid without nerves, who managed the unlikely, making more post-season starts for the Blue Jays than he had made in total in his September callup.

Our kid.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider was talking about this in the early afternoon. He wasn’t sure what kind of reception Yesavage would get in his first start of this rather unimpressive first month of the new season for the Jays. But certainly, Schneider believed the hello would be louder and longer than it was. It’s not like Toronto to be docile on what should be an emotional return. It’s not like Toronto to be semi-quiet in applauding its own.

But maybe this was just a touch of shyness of this difficult new season. Like an early date maybe. We didn’t exactly know what to say to him, he didn’t know exactly what to say to us. That kind of thing.

What to expect from Yesavage?

Isn’t that the question, or series of questions, right now for the Jays? What’s reasonable? What’s over the top? What is likely?

“He’s a pro,” said catcher Tyler Heineman. “I don’t look at this as a rookie coming up. You don’t do what he did (last October) and think of him as a rookie.

“This is his Opening Day, so that does mean something. It’s a great opportunity for him. He’s already proven what he is. There’s a reason he did what he did last season. He has the talent. Whatever happens tonight isn’t necessarily indicative of what he can do. He’s already shown what he can do.”

The Blue Jays have Kevin Gausman at the top of their rotation, followed closed by Dylan Cease. The two are both exceptional starting pitchers. Yesavage can be third on the list — possibly greater than that — to give Toronto a 1-2-3 that few teams in baseball can match.

“There’s a reason he did what he did last season,” said Heineman. “He has the talent. Having him here is a huge boost for us.”

Yesavage had a shoulder impingement in Florida that kept him from starting the season with the Jays. There was some concern as to when he would begin pitching in Toronto. And there he sat in the clubhouse Tuesday afternoon, on the couch where many of the players sit and play cards, staring at his cell phone, not hiding from his teammates the way many starting pitchers hide, not giving off the Roy Halladay don’t-look-at-me vibe. That isn’t who he is.

He’s just a 22-year-old who stares as his phone a lot, the way most 22-year-olds do. You couldn’t tell watching him in the clubhouse that anything special was happening at night. If he felt any nerves, he sure didn’t show it. Tension is for other pitchers, not for this guy. He wears No. 39 and it’s not because he happens to be a giant fan of Larry Csonka, Dave Parker, or Dominik Hasek, not that there’s anything wrong with any of those. It’s just his number.

What matters is he threw into the sixth inning against the Red Sox on Loonie Dogs night, wasn’t overwhelming, striking out just three, but didn’t walk anybody, didn’t give up a run, earned or otherwise. He threw with his unusual delivery, one that can’t, for now, be duplicated on a hitting simulator.

Eventually, hitters will adjust to him and he will be forced to adjust to them, but for now he has made nine big-league starts, eight of them damn impressive, eight of them making you wonder just how special this young man is and still is going to be.

The Jays are getting to the end of the first full month of the season with almost half the roster hurting. They need Yesavage healthy. They need him strong to contend. They need something resembling good news.

His exit on Loonie Dogs night sounded different than his entrance. But it still wasn’t enough, considering the sold-out crowd of 41,949. It should have been a standing ovation. There should have been more applause, more noise. The ending deserved that kind of attention.

Trey Yesavage came home and delivered for the Blue Jays. The way he almost always does. The way he has you wondering: What comes next?

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