Red Sox second base prospect Nick Yorke
I heavily considered not putting Nick Yorke on this list. He spent the heavy majority of his 2021 season in Low-A. However, Yorke did get some work in at High-A and absolutely crushed it there.
Overall between the two levels, Yorke slashed .325/.412/.516 with 20 doubles, five triples, and 14 home runs. The right-handed hitter drove in 62 runs and scored 76 more, stealing 13 bases. Even the defense was phenomenal. After committing eight errors in the first month of the season, he had just one more the rest of the year, finish with nine.
The reason this one seems odd is because Yorke has just the 2021 season under his belt. He’s going to be 20 for the entire 2022 season and has 97 games (378 at-bats) in the minors. That’s not a lot of experience. And with only 21 games in High-A, most would assume he’s going to be starting there.
Then I thought about it though. Yes, Yorke could definitely start in High-A. I could also see them throwing him into the Double-A fire immediately though. And even if he does start in High-A, it took take less than a full month of hot hitting before he gets moved up.
From there, Yorke is suddenly a step away. He’s not on the 40-man roster but there aren’t that many people that could be ahead of him on the list.
And yes, you could say that Boston doesn’t want to rush him. Which could absolutely be their strategy in this scenario. However, you could also look at it the other way. They need a second baseman, and Yorke was one of the best hitters in the entire minors last season – no matter what team we’re talking about. If he keeps doing that, why not give him a chance?
It still feels very unlikely. But I couldn’t ignore him because I do honestly think that there’s a chance we see Nick Yorke in the Majors in 2022. Is it a very outside chance? Yes, absolutely. But it’s still a shot. With that in mind, he gets a “cold” temperature rating – but hey, he’s still getting a rating.