Nick

Yorke

Neither Cook or Yorke did enough to earn a spot on the Pittsburgh bench, but both could be up-and-down options for the Pirates depending on how others perform and/or injuries. Yorke is still worth keeping an eye on in keeper leagues.

Yorke replaced Nick Gonzales at second base today. He’s supposed to be working out at first, but the Pirates had to use Adam Frazier there in this one. It’s kind of crazy that the Pirates did next to nothing to get better offensively over the winter and yet still seemingly have blocked Yorke from the major league roster. Perhaps he will sneak in if Spencer Horwitz opens up on the IL, and it would be no surprise if he proves to be one of the team’s better hitters right away.

Yorke’s first big-league blast came off Fernando Cruz. The 22-year-old also drew a walk and has hit .273 with a .713 OPS over his 22 at-bats since being promoted Monday. Yorke should get a chance to win a spot as a starter for Pittsburgh in spring training, and there is definitely some offensive upside in the former first-round selection’s right-handed bat.

Yorke is playing second base and batting seventh in his debut. He’s known as a second baseman, but the Red Sox introduced him to left field this year before trading him to Pittsburgh, and the Pirates started playing him all over the place after acquiring him at the deadline; in his final 16 games for Indianapolis, he started seven games at short, four at second, three in center, one at third and one in right field. We’d expect Yorke to play pretty regularly these last two weeks, and it’s possible he’ll offer some late value in deeper formats. He hit .333/.420/.498 in 78 games for his two Triple-A clubs.

Yorke, who the team acquired from the Red Sox at the trade deadline is the Pirates’ 6th-ranked prospect. Since coming to the Pirates, he’s hitting .355 with a .938 OPS and seven steals in 40 games. On the season, he has 12 home runs and 21 steals in 123 games, so he profiles as more of a 15/15 or 15/20 player at the next level which puts him on the deep league radar. He has been playing mainly second base and left field since coming to Pittsburgh but with Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds playing regularly in those spots, it will be curious to see how Yorke is used once he gets to the big leagues.

Yorke was splitting time between second base and left field as a Red Sox prospect, but since joining Indianapolis, he’s also started games at third, short and the other two outfield spots. He’s hit .352/.408/.491 in 29 games for his new team, so it’s possible the Pirates will give him a look this month.

Yorke had fallen in the pecking order of Red Sox prospects after two mediocre seasons and also started the 2024 season off by hitting just .251 with four home runs and eight steals in 45 games at Double-A. However, the Red Sox moved up him to Triple-A where he has been on a tear, slashing .310/.408/.490 with six home runs in 38 games. It may simply just be a hot streak, but his exit velocities have been above average for the level, and his approach is solid. However, his defense remains a question mark at second base and he had gotten some playing time in left field recently. Given his struggles the last two seasons and the Red Sox’s glut of middle infield prospects, they felt fine moving on from him to get a young pitcher with multiple years of control. Where the Pirates see Yorke fitting is the next question.

Priester was immediately assigned to Triple-A Worcester. On the surface, this seems like a weird trade for the Red Sox since Priester has a 6.46 career ERA in 94 2/3 MLB innings; however, he was a former top-100 prospect who is still just 23 years old. Priester has a good sinker and slider but struggles with his four-seamer. Since Boston throws the fewest four-seam fastballs in baseball, it seems likely that they will dial back Priester’s usage of the pitch and try to focus on his strengths. This feels like an organization betting on its ability to “fix” a struggling former prospect, and given what Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey have done with the pitching staff in 2024, it might not be a bad idea for them to be on themselves. However, for fantasy purposes, that might make Priester more relevant in 2025 than 2024.

Considering that Yorke was hitting just .251/.325/.366 in 45 games in Double-A before being promoted in May, it’s a pretty great surprise that he’s come in at .330/.425/.505 in 26 games for Worcester. At this rate, it’s worth wondering if he might get a look at second base in Boston before the end of the year, though that probably hinges on what happens with Vaughn Grissom.

Yorke hasn’t skipped a beat since arriving in Worcester earlier this week with four hits in nine at-bats through a pair of games so far. The 22-year-old second baseman, who was Boston’s first-round pick from the 2020 MLB Draft, has watched his stock take a hit over the last few years as he hasn’t exactly hit for a ton of power in the upper minors. Still, there’s a chance he’s able to finally ascend to the big leagues at some point later this summer.