Nick Yorke flashed his potential this weekend. The Red Sox prospect collected a pair of hits in Boston’s all-prospect spring breakout game.
Yorke showed off the hit tool by slapping an RBI single to right and he flexed his muscle by tagging a double off the center-field fence in the Sox prospects’ win over Atlanta’s youngsters Saturday at JetBlue Park.
The good vibes were short-lived, though. The breakout game performance was by far Yorke’s best of the spring, and he was among the handful of players reassigned to minor league camp Monday morning. The move on its own was not terribly surprising. Yorke at times has looked like a player who could force his way into the big leagues in 2024, but it would have taken a tremendous spring performance to force the club’s hand and keep him around for the start of the season.
In fact, Yorke largely did the opposite of that. Not counting Saturday’s prospect showcase, Yorke was just 2-for-22 in Grapefruit League action. That’s not going to cut it for anyone, especially a hit-first infielder the Sox took in the first round of the 2020 draft.
“He didn’t do much offensively,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters Monday in Florida, per MassLive.com. “It felt like he was in between the whole camp. He didn’t get too many opportunities because of lack of versatility. He played great at second base. The times he was on the bases, good instincts.
“But the offensive side of it, that was his ticket when he got drafted — he’s going to be an offensive middle infielder. And we’ve got to get back to that. I think now, slow things down, go do your work wherever he starts. (Player development), they’ll determine that. Get his at-bats and get back to the hitter the organization envisioned when they drafted him in ’20.”
Cora also mentioned Yorke will receive some playing time in the outfield. Such a move would really emphasize the need for offensive contributions. An offensive middle infielder is held to a different standard than an outfielder, especially one moved off their original position. The expectations for production are even higher.
The production was good but not great for Yorke in 2023 when he spent the entire season at Double-A Portland. Yorke hit 13 home runs with 61 RBIs while walking 51 times in 110 games. He was able to increase his batting average, too, after hitting .232 the year before in Greenville.
That progress is encouraging, and it’s probably worth emphasizing a little more patience with Yorke. As a 2020 draftee, he lost that entire first season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t start his professional career until 2021. On top of that, he’s still relatively young. He was almost three years younger than the average Double-A age in 2023.
