Nick Yorke focused on the Pirates and his future; ‘I could honestly care less what’s going on over there’

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The Red Sox and the Pirates played each other for the first time since they completed the Nick Yorke for Quinn Priester trade.

Priester was on the mound to face his former club; meanwhile, Yorke, who played the night before against the Yankees, was on the bench for Pittsburgh.

Yorke, like Priester, is competing for a spot on the Opening Day roster and told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier he’s felt the “best” he’s ever felt, heading into a new season.

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The Pirates infielder/outfielder has the versatility to play both corner outfield positions, second base, shortstop, and third base. Despite that, Pittsburgh is looking to utilize the Calif. native as an infielder, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Noah Hiles.

Pittsburgh wants to see Yorke hit consistently at the big league level before deciding whether he’ll be an everyday corner outfielder or a utility infielder.

Prior to the trade to Pittsburgh, Yorke was hitting the cover off the ball for the WooSox. He slashed .310/.408/.490 with six home runs and 19 RBIs across 38 games.

Without a clear path to the bigs and other prospects higher on the depth chart, Boston viewed Yorke as expendable and was able to land a controllable pitcher to get in their pitching program.

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Now that Yorke is with the Pirates, he is focused on the upcoming and making the 26-man roster and has completely put the Red Sox in the rearview mirror.

“To be honest, I’ve kind of left that in the rearview,” Yorke said. “They didn’t want me, and they wanted me over here, so I’m going to make the best of the opportunity over here. I could honestly care less what’s going on over there.”