At 18, first-rounder Nick Yorke has chance to show Red Sox were right about him
When Nick Yorke received a call in January from Red Sox scouting director Paul Toboni, Yorke thought it was just another one of the regular check-ins that had become customary for the 2020 first-round pick.
But Toboni was calling with real, actual news: The Red Sox wanted the 18-year-old in big-league camp, a rare opportunity for any first-year player, let alone one who’d just graduated high school and had yet to play in a minor-league game.
Yorke was taken aback. “I was like, ‘Wait, are you serious? You’re not pulling my leg, right?’”
The Red Sox weren’t kidding. It was time to see what they had in Yorke, an infielder from San Jose, Calif. On Monday he entered the Red Sox’ second spring training game of the season and dropped a single into right field off Braves reliever A.J. Minter, who posted an 0.83 ERA over 22 appearances last season.
“That was the highlight of the day,” said manager Alex Cora. “It’s funny because I told him before the game, hey, you’re playing second base. He’s like, ‘OK, cool.’ I asked him, are you nervous? He was like, ‘nope.’ I’m like, ‘OK, good for you.’ Probably I was more nervous for him. That’s a good sign.”
This is the beginning of a long minor-league road for Yorke, but he’s made the right first impressions so far.
The Red Sox shocked the baseball world in June when they selected Yorke with the 17th overall pick. Though he had been recognized as one of the best California high school hitters in the draft, the industry consensus was that he’d land somewhere from the second to fourth rounds. Yorke had shoulder surgery after his sophomore year in 2019 and spent his junior year at designated hitter. He returned to the field for the start of his senior season at Archbishop Mitty. He played just five games, collecting eight hits, including two homers and a double, before the pandemic shut everything down.
The Red Sox, as part of their penalty for the sign-stealing investigation, were docked their second-round pick in the 2020 draft and feared Yorke wouldn’t be available by the third round. So they took a gamble.
Red Sox scout Josh Labandeira had followed Yorke for a few years since serving as a coach for the Area Code Underclassmen games.
“He stood out immediately, his presence, the way he carried himself,” Labandeira said. “Very confident and comfortable in his own skin. He believes in himself and believes in his bat. It was very obvious once you get around him and then you watch him play, and the way he plays the game is hard to describe, it was different than the other guys. His mind always seemed to work a little quicker and ahead of the other guys. His instincts to hit, he’s just a natural pure hitter. It started to stand out more and more, the more you got around him and watched him.”