What Nick Yorke said when he found out about his promotion to Triple-A Worcester: ‘Are you serious?’
The Red Sox promoted prospect Nick Yorke from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Worcester on Wednesday.
Yorke, who is currently ranked as the Red Sox No. 8 prospect, according to Baseball America, had been with the Sea Dogs from the start of the 2023 season.
“I was shocked,” said Yorke before the game at Polar Park. “‘I said, are you serious?’ Like, I was excited to get going up, but yeah, it was cool.
“I mean, they brought me to the office. Abes (Brian Abraham) was in there. We had a bunch of coordinators in there, and you know, they just said, keep working and keep being yourself. Don't try to be anyone else,” added Yorke.
In 45 games this season, Yorke is batting .251/.353/.366 with eight doubles, four homers, 27 RBI, 18 walks, eight steals, 36 strikeouts, and owns a .691 OPS.
Yorke has also cut down on his strikeout totals at the dish, lowering his strikeout rate from 24.1% last year to 18.2% this year.
“Yeah, for me, it was, a big one was my strikeout percentage,” said Yorke. “You know, I just think putting the ball in play, especially when I was batting fourth in Portland, I’d have Marcelo (Mayer), (Roman) Anthony and (Kyle) Teel on base almost every time. Felt like you know, just putting the ball in play, trying to make stuff happen, score some runs, RBI's, all that stuff.”
The 22-year-old second baseman and left fielder was selected No. 17 overall during the 2020 MLB Draft out of Archbishop Mitty High in California. Yorke has cemented himself as one of the Red Sox's top prospects since he joined the organization.
Yorke has shown versatility playing second base, and he’s begun to play the outfield this season. While with Worcester, WooSox manager Chad Tracy said in his pregame meeting with the media that Yorke would play second base and both corner outfield positions.
Yorke will make his Triple-A debut at second base and bat sixth for the WooSox. The talented young infielder is just soaking up the moment and looking forward to getting to work with Worcester.
“It's super cool, you know, just to come out and to be able to have new teammates now and, you know, new coaching staff. It's been a lot of fun,” said Yorke.
