North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; The Top 30 series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the Pirates Top 30 prospects, with a few bonus “double drop” weeks. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss the following.

• Scouting Score
• Performance
• Expectations
• Projected Debut
  
  When it comes to scouting grades, the scale used is 20-80. So, a 20-30 grade would be considered well below average. A 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average (Also called Plus) and 70-80 is well above average (or Plus Plus). For prospects the overall grade is where scouts expect the player to perform once in the majors. For example, a 65 grade would be an All-Star caliber standout player, whereas a 50 would be an everyday player and a 40 would be a bench player.

Nick Yorke:

Nick Yorke was selected 17th overall to the Boston Red Sox in the 2020 draft. In 2022 after a tremendous first season he was the preseason Top 100 prosect according to Pipeline, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. Though his regression in 2022 had him fall of those lists and he has yet to make it back onto them. He did however remain in the Red Sox Top 5 on Pipeline, which is where he comes in after the trade to the Pirates as their 5th best prospect on Pipeline.

Even with the bad 2022 season Yorke scouts have not soured on him too much. To start the 2022 season they had ranked his hit tool a 60 and his Run, Arm and Field at 50, so not to far off what they stand at currently. The one thing they do agree on now however is he looks to be more of an everyday player then a potential star. His tools are all at average or for running and fielding just below average. Some scouts call his tools as “fringy” though they do also say he as some good instincts, especially on the basepaths. On the bat side scouts think his bat speed will help him hit up to twenty homeruns once he makes The Show. Like many of the other Pirates prospects it is also noted he is a great fastball hitter but struggles with breaking pitches. He does have some defensive versatility as he is able to play 2nd base as well as corner outfield positions.

Yorke hit the league at 19 after being drafted full force. In 2021 in 76 games in A he had a 11.8 BB% a 13.6 K% to go with a wRC+ of 146. Then in High A over 21 tames he had 11.5 BB% 22.9 K% with a wRC+ of 158. Over those two leagues he also hit 20 doubles 5 triples and 14 home runs while stealing 13 bases. These stats were what helped put him on the afore mentioned Top 100 lists. In 2022 he regressed a lot causing him for fall off the top lists. His BB% in A+ went down to 8.8 his K% went up to 25.2% his ISO was .134 his BABIP was .288 and his wRC+ was only 84. To make matters worse his .303 OBP on the year was worse than his BA from the previous year by 30 points. Even after the poor play he was sent to AA for 2023, where his numbers all improved. His walks improved, he decreased his strikeouts (though not by much). His ISO was up to .167, his BABIP increased to .339 and his wRC+ was up to 116. This led to 2024 where he spent 45 games in AA followed by 38 in AAA before being dealt to the Pirates. In those games he had a 14.2 BB%, 18.9 K%, an ISO of .179 with a .364 BABIP and 136 wRC+. These numbers are much closer to what folks saw in Yorke’s first year in professional ball. Defensively he has played well and even in his limited time in the Pirate’s system has made a few highlight defensive plays.
Yorke is currently 22 years old with 43 games at the AAA level, however with MLB is on the horizon. There is a chance he could be added to the 40 man and given some MLB time this September, he will need to be added before the Rule 5 if the Pirates want to ensure he is kept. However, it is much more likely he will be given a deep look in Spring Training next year with a chance to be an injury call up. With Nick Gonzales ahead of him as well as the addition of Isiah Kiner-Falefa it is unlikely he will be ahead of either of them on the depth chart. It is possible that he could see more time in the outfield, if that is the case and he hits, he could be up sooner that way than at 2B. Regardless, it will not be long before he is donning his Pirates uniform and seeing meaningful action in Pittsburgh.