TORONTO -- The Blue Jays chose rookie Trey Yesavage to start Game 1 of the World Series against the defending champion Dodgers but have not decided whether to carry shortstop Bo Bichette on their roster, manager John Schneider said Thursday.
Bichette has not played since spraining his left knee Sept. 6 in a collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells. He attempted to return for the American Championship League Series against the Mariners, but he could not run the bases without substantial pain on Oct. 11, the day before rosters were due for submission.
Nearly two weeks later, Bichette, a two-time All-Star who finished second in the majors with a .311 batting average in a bounce-back season, has made substantial progress.
"Feeling good enough," Bichette said Thursday.
Bichette took groundballs at second base and faced live pitching Wednesday. Schneider said he was scheduled for a similar routine Thursday "with a little bit more attention to detail from a defensive standpoint."
Schneider said Toronto is considering Bichette, 27, for shortstop, second base, or designated hitter. He could also start the series strictly in a pinch-hitting role. Bichette last played second base in April 2019 in Triple-A.
"We're kind of coming right down to the wire with it," Schneider said. "I could see all three of those things happening, to be honest with you. Just kind of have to talk to him after the workout today, see how comfortable he felt doing everything and make the best decision."
The decision for Toronto's Game 1 starter came down to Yesavage or Kevin Gausman. Ultimately, Toronto chose to give Gausman at least another day of rest after he threw 19 pitches in a scoreless inning of relief in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday. Yesavage was informed of his assignment Wednesday.
Schneider said Gausman will start either Game 2 in Toronto on Saturday or Game 3 in Los Angeles on Monday. Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer are the other expected starters for the Blue Jays against a loaded Dodgers lineup led by three future Hall of Famers.
The Dodgers will counter Yesavage with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is slated to start Game 2.
"We tried to talk to all the guys and see how they're doing physically, see what we have done historically in terms of rest, what it may look like later in the series for certain guys," Schneider said. "And then how each one of them matches up against the Dodgers."
Yesavage, 22, will make his seventh career start Friday in Game 1, which will mark the Blue Jays' first World Series appearance since 1993. He will be the first rookie to start Game 1 of the World Series since 2006, when Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes started opposite Tigers rookie Justin Verlander.
Yesavage made his major league debut just over a month ago, on Sept. 15, and two more regular-season starts before being thrust into the postseason fire.
Yesavage has not wilted under the pressure behind a splitter-fastball combination from an extraordinarily high arm angle and release point that perplexed two of baseball's best offenses.
In his postseason debut, the right-hander held the Yankees hitless with 11 strikeouts and no walks in Game 2 of the AL Division Series. He rebounded from a rocky outing in Game 2 of the ALCS, when he gave up five runs across four innings, to limit the Mariners to two runs over 5⅔ innings in Game 6 with the Blue Jays facing elimination.
"I've been able to go through this and handle it as diligently as possible," Yesavage said. "With this being my rookie season and having these high-pressure games, I try to treat it as if it's not as high pressure as it is mentally, but I know it's there, so I think I've just developed it over time."
Yesavage was selected in the first round with the 20th overall pick out of East Carolina in last year's draft. He began this season -- his first full professional campaign -- pitching for the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays. He issued six walks in 3⅔ innings in his season debut against the Jupiter Hammerheads on April 8, when the announced attendance was 327.
He ascended to High-A Vancouver, then to Double-A New Hampshire, then to Triple-A Buffalo over the next four months, emerging not just as a top prospect across the sport but as a potential weapon for the surging Blue Jays in October. He arrived in mid-September with, he joked, his Toyota Tundra looking like a mobile home. He checks in and out of hotel rooms every time the Blue Jays go on the road and return. On Friday, he'll take the mound the franchise's first World Series game in 32 years.
"It's really special," Yesavage said. "I've got guys from Dunedin to Vancouver, New Hampshire, Buffalo that are in my text texting me, congratulating me. But it's just a testament of how together this whole entire organization is, even in different parts of the country. This organization is run very well and everybody's awesome here."