Red Sox Wednesday Minor League Round Up: Nick Yorke looking to continue to prove the doubters wrong
Red Sox Wednesday Minor League Round Up: Nick Yorke looking to continue to prove the doubters wrong
‘I felt super underrated coming into the draft' - Nick Yorke
When the Red Sox drafted Nick Yorke during the 2020 MLB Draft, the decision left a lot of baseball pundits scratching their heads. After the pick was made, ESPN’s Karl Ravech barely knew who Yorke was saying “I have a lot of notes, but I don’t have much on Nick Yorke.”
The crew at the Worldwide Leader in Sports had to take a few minutes and fill airtime to give analysis on the new Sox prospect. ESPN Insider Kiley McDaniel had ranked Yorke as the No. 69 prospect on his big board. Baseball America had Yorke ranked at No. 96 while MLB Pipeline had him at No. 139.
Since the draft, Yorke has done nothing but prove the doubters wrong. Once overlooked by the baseball pundits, he now ranks No. 31 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list.
Last season, Yorke put the baseball world on notice batting .325 with a .412 on-base percentage, 14 dingers, 20 doubles, five triples while driving in 62 RBIs between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville.
However, despite his impressive season, the 2021 campaign didn’t start off as Yorke had planned. He struggled mightily in May hitting .195 in 21 games.
“I’m pretty tough on myself,” Yorke said. “I like to push myself. I like to succeed. So when I wasn’t, it was strictly based off I was trying to do too much. I was trying to be more than what I am. So just going back into that second month, (Nelson Paulino), the hitting coach in Salem, was just like, ‘Your swing looks amazing in BP. Try to keep that same effort level in the game.’ I kind of took off from there.”
Following the tough start, Yorke was red hot from June 1 on, hitting .373 with 10 home runs, 12 doubles, four triples driving in 38 RBIs. His hot streak earned him a promotion to High-A Greenville on August 24.
Yorke looked liked a different player at the plate with the Greenville Drive. He continued to stay hot by batting .333, four home runs, four doubles with 15 RBIs in 21 games. Yorke was named the Red Sox’ minor-league Offensive Player of the Year in September.
Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser has recognized Yorke the top second-base prospect in baseball as teams head into the 2022 season.
“He is a balanced hitter who stays back on balls and drives them to all fields with a quick, compact swing,” Glaser wrote on Friday. “He consistently puts together good at-bats with his excellent pitch recognition and strike-zone discipline, and his elite barrel control allows him to hit almost any pitch. He easily projects to be a plus hitter and has a chance to be more.”
After the experts underrated Yorke back in 2020, he has completely changed the narrative on his baseball journey.
“I felt super underrated coming into the draft, coming into the season,” Yorke said at JetBlue Park to MassLive on Tuesday. “I’m overlooked by everyone. I just go in and do my thing. I’ve done it my whole life. So I’m going to try to keep doing it.”
The key for Yorke in 2022 will be building off the success of 2021. While building on that success, Yorke will need to block the noise from the people who doubted him.
“He’s very mature,” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham said. “Another young player for us that we’re very lucky — he’s very self-aware, understands that there are a lot of strengths but also a lot of areas he can continue to improve. Having someone willing to make adjustments, willing to listen, willing to try to get better, is extremely valuable for us and someone that makes it easier to work with.”
Check out the Red Sox Tuesday Minor League Round Up here.
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