Nick Yorke was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2024 trade deadline for Quinn Priester. He was originally a 2020 first-round pick by the Red Sox in the shortened 2020 draft. Yorke was primarily a second baseman in his first three professional seasons. In 2024 he played a quarter of his games in left field, and that seems where the Pirates are going to use him going forward. For now, he is second base-eligible for our ranking purposes, be sure to check your league settings.

Yorke had a solid professional debut in 2021 in Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville slashing .325/.412/.516 while playing against much older competition. It was especially impressive considering there was no high school or professional minor league baseball played in 2020. He battled injuries and struggled in 2022, and despite a return to good health in 2023 his struggles continued. Yorke took off in 2024 at Triple-A Worcester. He hit .310/.408/.490 before being traded to Pittsburgh and made his Major League debut late in the season.

The question on these breakouts is always the same: Is it real? When I see a breakout, I always prefer to find a corresponding mechanical change. Or perhaps a nagging injury the prior season. Maybe it’s just that he’s a year older and stronger, or maybe he just had a healthy offseason. I can’t find any evidence of a mechanical change. Despite this, I’m still inclined to think this new Nick Yorke is the real Nick Yorke.

Yorke doesn’t seem to have just been swinging a hot bat throughout 2024. He made impressive gains in all his underlying metrics and reduced his strikeout by 5% while raising his walk rate by that same amount. His zone-contact rate and chase rate significantly improved, and his measured Triple-A 90^th percentile exit velocity was an elite 105.7 miles per hour. Additionally, he has a 111-mph maximum EV, and a 91.5-mph average. Unsurprisingly, he also produced an elite 50% hard-hit rate and 40% launch angle sweet spot rate.  He accomplished these improvements while playing most of the season against older competition in Triple-A.

Yorke received a boon when he was traded to the Pirates (even though the metrics say that PNC Park is a worse hitting environment than Fenway) as it leads me to believe he will get ample opportunities to play every day in Pittsburgh that he would not have received in Boston. Statistically, he seems like a solid second baseman. The Pirates have several second-base types on the roster, and they seem set on having Yorke compete for an outfield corner position. Statcast rates his running speed as 90^th percentile so he is fast enough to handle the transition.  The Pirates’ second base situation is more numerous than it is strong, so in coming seasons he may continue to have second base eligibility which is something fantasy managers will be hoping for.

Most forecasts are very down on Yorke’s bat, projecting a below-average wRC+ in 2025. I think there’s more juice in his bat than the forecasts do. Yorke has a short, quick swing. He makes frequent contact, and his ground ball rates have dropped every professional season. One nit I will pick is that his ground ball rate is still over 40%, and his batted balls that do get airborne are sprayed rather than pulled. For now, this may limit his home run power. Given Yorke’s 50% hard-hit rate in his 42 plate appearances and his matching 50% hard-hit rate in Triple-A, I believe he can hit 20-25 home runs in the future.

Yorke is a player who can be acquired much cheaper than many top prospects as a post-hype player. I see many positives in his underlying numbers that I am confident that he can out-produce many players currently ranked in industry top 100 lists. He does not have much competition for a full-time position with the Pirates, which means even if he struggles early he should have some runway to make adjustments. If the Pirates somehow wander into a competent offense in 2025 to pair with their pitching staff, I believe that he will be a reason why.

(Brandon Ring)