A bounceback 2023 season for Red Sox prospect Nick Yorke culminated in him being named Double-A Portland’s Most Valuable Player.
Coming off an injury-riddled 2022 campaign in which he struggled to a .668 OPS in 80 games with High-A Greenville, Yorke faced a fair amount of skepticism going into his third full professional season. After a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League, however, the 21-year-old second baseman seemingly carried over that momentum into the spring and broke camp with Portland.
Tasked with facing upper-minors pitching for the first time in his career, Yorke got off to a fast start with the Sea Dogs. Through the end of May, the right-handed hitter found himself batting a stout .290/.412/.490 with seven doubles, three triples, six home runs, 19 RBIs, 35 runs scored, five stolen bases, 29 walks, and 43 strikeouts in his first 40 games (187 plate appearances) for Boston’s Eastern League affiliate.
Though his production dropped off to some degree in June, Yorke joined Sea Dogs teammates Marcelo Mayer and Luis Guerrero in representing the Red Sox at July’s All-Star Futures Game in Seattle. There at T-Mobile Park, he went 1-for-3 with a hard-hit, 388-foot double and strikeout while serving as the American League’s starting second baseman.
Upon returning from the Emerald City, Yorke returned to form in August by slashing .310/.396/.517 with three homers and 17 RBIs in 22 games. He then managed just eight hits in 11 September contests, though he was honored as Portland’s 2023 MVP alongside Guerrero (Pitcher of the Year), Chase Meidroth (Defensive Player of the Year), and Tyler Dearden (Citizen of the Year) before the Sea Dogs’ final game of the season at Hadlock Field.
All told, Yorke batted .268/.350/.435 with a team-leading 25 doubles, five triples, 13 home runs, a team-leading 61 RBIs and 74 runs scored, 18 stolen bases, 51 walks, and 122 strikeouts in a career-high 110 games (506 plate appearances) for Portland last season. Among 42 other qualified hitters in the Eastern League, Yorke ranked 19th in strikeout rate (24.1 percent), fifth in batting average, 13th in on-base percentage, 14th in slugging percentage, 11th in OPS (.785), 18th in isolated power (.167), fifth in speed score (6.9), 18th in line-drive rate (19.6 percent), 21st in swinging-strike rate (12 percent), and 15th in wRC+ (116), per FanGraphs.
On the other side of the ball, Yorke established himself as the Sea Dogs’ primary second baseman early on and wound up making a team-high 96 starts at the keystone. Over 839 2/3 innings at second, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound infielder committed just six errors in 373 total chances, which translates to a .984 fielding percentage. To that end, Yorke was identified as the best defensive second baseman in the Eastern League by league managers in Baseball America’s 2023 Best Tools survey.
Named an organizational All-Star by both MiLB.com and SoxProspects.com, Yorke did well to put himself back on the map last season. The California native was, of course, originally taken by the Red Sox with the 17th overall pick in the COVID-shortened 2020 amateur draft out of Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose. Though a surprising selection at the time for various reasons, Boston swayed Yorke away from his commitment to Arizona by signing him for $2.7 million.
In the time that has passed since he was drafted, Yorke has experienced both the highs and lows of pro ball. After a stellar debut between Low-A Salem and Greenville in 2021, he was recognized Minor League Offensive Player of the Year. As previously mentioned, a plethora of injuries — including turf toe, back stiffness, and left wrist soreness — limited Yorke to just 80 games with Greenville in 2022 and created some questions regarding his future.
On the heels rebounding nicely in 2023, Yorke comes into the new year ranked by Baseball America as the No. 8 prospect in Boston’s farm system. He is currently taking part in the Red Sox’ rookie development program after working with several other Boston infielders in the Dallas-area last week as part of an offseason camp put together by native Texan Trevor Story.
Yorke, who turns 22 in April, could either return to Portland or make the jump to Triple-A Worcester for the start of the 2024 minor-league season . That decision, as noted by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, will likely depend on how much playing time is available for Yorke at Worcester given the influx of middle infield depth the Red Sox have.
Speier, who also contributes to Baseball America’s Red Sox coverage, reported late last week that both Yorke and outfield prospect Miguel Bleis are among those in the organization who have drawn some level of trade interest this winter as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and Co. scour the market for starting pitching.
Unlike Bleis, who is still years away from big-league consideration and has a higher ceiling as a result, Yorke can be viewed as a more rational trade target after the Red Sox acquired infielder Vaughn Grissom from the Braves for Chris Sale and cash considerations in late December.
Grissom, who just turned 23 and comes with six years of club control, is all but certain to open the 2024 season as Boston’s starting second baseman. Yorke, meanwhile, can become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft for the first time at the end of the year if he is not added to Boston’s 40-man roster by the protection deadline in November.
Because of that, the Red Sox could look to deal Yorke between now and this summer’s trade deadline if they view him as expendable and if Grissom — or another in-house option, perhaps — proves that they can handle the bulk of responsibilities at second base moving forward.
If Yorke does remain with the Red Sox through the winter and into the spring, though, he could put himself in position to make his big-league debut at some point before the 2024 season draws to a close.
(Picture of Nick Yorke: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
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