Red Sox Prospect Report: Nick Yorke Finally Finding Level In Pros

Even with the Boston Red Sox season in full swing, there is plenty going on down on the farm. NESN.com will take a look at several high-level prospects at the midway point of the season and see how they are faring. Next up: Nick Yorke.

Nick Yorke entered the Red Sox organization as a high school prospect that provided a high floor in the middle infield as a first-round pick — signaling the start of a new philosophy from Chaim Bloom and company.

That philosophy has become the norm.

The Red Sox would go on to draft Marcelo Mayer, Mikey Romero and Cutter Coffey in the two subsequent drafts, adding a wealth of talented high school prospects to the farm’s infield. That put some pressure on Yorke to prove he’s more than just a low-ceiling prospect — which has had mixed results.

In his first three seasons, York saw the extremes of professional baseball before finally having water find its level in 2023. Here’s what that looked like.

2021 Season Stats: .325/.412/.516 (378 at-bats), 14 HRs, 62 RBIs, 52 BB, 13 SBs
2022 Season Stats: .232/.303/.365 (337 at-bats), 11 HRs, 45 RBIs, 33 BB, 8 SBs
2023 Season Stats: .274/.357/.448 (288 at-bats), 9 HRs, 38 RBIs, 34 BB, 6 SBs

Overview of Season
Yorke entered 2023 at his lowest point as a professional. The 21-year-old battled a litany of injuries in 2022, which hindered his ability to hit with any sort of consistency. As a prospect who doesn’t provide much in terms of defensive ability, that was extremely detrimental to his stock.

How did he improve? Well, he’s been healthy.

Yorke has spent the entire year in Double-A Portland and appeared in 72 games, which has given him time to catch up to the increased velocity he saw that hurt him in 2022. Yorke has been able to get to the ball, which has resulted in an uptick in raw power but has seen him take a step back when it comes to swing decisions — as he’s struck out 83 times in his first 328 plate appearances. In all, Yorke looks like he’s a perfectly average version of the player we’ve seen through the first two seasons of his pro career.

Though he hasn’t had the same kind of season he did in 2021, Yorke’s improvements from a horrid 2022 earned him an invite to the MLB Futures All-Star Game where he shined alongside top prospect Marcelo Mayer.

Best Performance of Season
Yorke had a tremendous showing as Portland was finishing up its first half, showing flashes of the patient hitter we all saw in his first season of pro ball. The 21-year-old went 4-for-4 from the plate with a home run, double, two singles and two RBIs. He was able to make solid contact on a consistent basis, which has been the one thing he hasn’t consistently done in his bounce-back season.

In trying to overcome his status as a bat-to-ball hitter and produce more power, Yorke’s numbers have become skewed. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been flashes, however, as he has seven games with three-or-more hits, registering an extra-base hit in all but two.

Change In Prospect Ranking?
Yorke has remained a member of Boston’s top 10 prospects since his draft day, entering the season ranked as the Red Sox’s No. 6 prospect, per SoxProspects.com. He jumped up one spot to re-enter the top five, thanks to Triston Casas’ graduation in May, where he remains.

Expected Arrival To Boston?
The Red Sox currently have a surplus of middle infielders on the big league roster, so there isn’t much of a rush in pushing Yorke through the ranks. He still has to make the jump to Triple-A, which might not come until the end of the season. If all goes well, the end of 2024 could be Yorke’s first opportunity at making his debut.