BOSTON — MLB.com ranked Nick Yorke the 139th best prospect entering the 2020 Draft and the Red Sox shocked the industry selecting him 17th overall.
The selection initially was met with surprise and skepticism. Now chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox scouting department look quite smart.
“Absolutely it’s motivation,” Yorke said. “I still know the number. I was ranked 139th going into the draft ... But at the end of the day, that’s not going to help me get to the big leagues. So every opportunity that I got to be on the field, try to make the most of it and prove to them I’m not 139th.”
The Red Sox presented the 19-year-old Yorke with the 2021 minor league Offensive Player of the Year award Wednesday here at Fenway Park.
“It’s a big chip on my shoulder,” Yorke said. “I’m ready to call MLB Network and say, ‘Hey, I know you guys were surprised but here I am. Let’s get it going.’ So I’m excited for that.”
Yorke batted .325 with a .412 on-base percentage, .516 slugging percentage, .928 OPS, 14 homers, 20 doubles, five triples, 76 runs, 62 RBIs and 13 steals in 97 games (442 plate appearances) between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville this year. He slashed .333/.406/.571/.978 with 11 extra-base hits in 21 games after his promotion to Greenville.
“It was a super long, fun, exciting season,” Yorke said. “I was lucky the season wasn’t a month or else I wouldn’t be here, right?”
Yorke struggled during his first month. He slashed only .195./264/.220/.483 in 21 games during May.
“That first month, I was putting together some pretty good at-bats,” Yorke said. “I was hitting the ball hard. Just they weren’t finding holes. It’s part of the game. So it was kind of just understanding that, ‘OK, it’s going to be a long season. Those hits are going to fall sooner or later. So kind of keep at it.’”
Those hits fell sooner rather than later. He went 79-for-212 (.373 batting average) with a .467 on-base percentage, .608 slugging percentage, 1.075 OPS, 10 homers, 12 doubles and four triples in his final 55 games with Salem.
“So it was a lot of fun,” Yorke said. “Met a lot of new people. Learned a lot of new things. We were surrounded by a great group in Salem and in Greenville. So it was super easy just to go out and play and not have to worry about anything else.”
The Red Sox felt Yorke would have been a consensus first-round pick if the 2020 amateur season wasn’t canceled early on due to COVID-19. So they drafted him at No. 17 overall and signed him to an under-slot value deal.
Yorke was the fifth high school position player drafted. Eight of the 10 high school position players drafted in the first round signed more lucrative bonuses than Yorke’s $2.7 million.
“Very grateful for the opportunity that the Red Sox gave me to be able to have an opportunity to even have a chance of playing here,” Yorke said. “We all walked in and we’re looking around and it’s surreal. It’s the nicest field I’ve ever seen. So I’m super excited.”
Yorke — who made nine errors this season (none after his promotion to Greenville) — weighed 225 pounds at 2020 fall instructional league.
The Red Sox asked him to drop at least 10 pounds before spring training. He dropped 20 pounds. He’s still at 205 pounds.
“I think he improved a lot over the season (defensively),” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham said. “I think this past offseason, the work he put in with his body, the weight loss, the strength gains, the added mobility and agility I think helped him a lot. There’s still tons of areas for improvement. I think lateral movement. Turning the double play is something we’ll continue to work on. His hands. That’s just the speed of the game. That’s just consistent reps. That’s continued ground balls. Fielding ground balls from different positions in the shift and throwing from different areas. So I think we’re excited about the progress he made but obviously there’s still work to be done.”
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