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Nick Yorke went from the Boston Red Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates at this past summer’s trade deadline in exchange for Quinn Priester. Some months earlier he’d gone back to the approach that made him a first-round pick in 2020, and from there a productive hitter in his first full professional season. The adjustment was needed. While Yorke remained a promising prospect in 2022 — a campaign compromised by injuries — and again in 2023, his productivity was less than what was expected, and certainly less than what he’d hoped for.
The changes Yorke made this year proved a panacea. After getting off to a so-so start in cold-weather Portland, Maine, he swung a hot bat after being promoted to Triple-A Worcester, and from there at Indianapolis following the trade. Over 344 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, the 22-year-old infielder/outfielder slashed .333/.420/.498 with 25 doubles, eight home runs, and a 143 wRC+. Moreover, he stuck out at a lower rate than he did in a season-plus at the Double-A level. Upon getting called up in mid-September, Yorke went 8-for-37 with a pair of home runs and an 82 wRC+ in 42 plate appearances across 11 major league games.
Yorke sat down at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park during the final week of the regular season to discuss his successful turnaround this year.
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David Laurila: We first talked hitting in April 2021 as you were beginning your first season of pro ball. How would you compare now to then?
Nick Yorke: “I would say pretty different while being the same at the same time. I felt — especially that first year when I was 19 — that I was doing really well approach-wise. I was driving the ball the other way. I feel like I kind of got away from that the past couple of years.”
Laurila: How and why did you get away from your old approach?
Yorke: “Training philosophies. With Fenway, they wanted you to use the Monster. They were working a lot on airside, pull stuff with me. That just wasn’t the type of hitter I was. Trying to do that, the power output never really went up. What happened is the swing-and-miss went up, and the hit-ability went down a little bit.
“Going into this year, I kind of went back to my old approach and started driving the ball up the middle and the other way again, just letting the pull happen naturally. It’s been going pretty well so far.”
Laurila: What type of physical adjustments did you make in order to try to pull the ball in air more often?
Yorke: “Last year, I hit with my hands over my head. They were playing around with my hand placement, trying to get me into a better spot to, I guess, unlock more into pulling the ball. Doing that, I didn’t drive the ball the other way as well as I wanted to, or as well as I once had.”
Laurila: Why the high hands?
Yorke: “We had a lot of guys with high hands at that time. Ceddanne Rafaela had his hands over his head. We had Rafael Devers with high hands. They felt like my turn, when I was loading, was all shoulders, so I was cutting myself off a lot. Raising my hands would help me kind of drop into a better spot without moving my shoulders as much inward, and then coming this way; it was more linear this way.”
Laurila: What about your lower half? Did that change at all?
Yorke: “Going back and watching videos, my load has always been pretty similar. I would say it’s more the intent of what I’m trying to do with the ball. I feel that now I’m staying on the ball longer with my lower half. When I was trying to hit the ball to left field, I was kind of coming out of everything; my legs were giving and going out towards left field. Now that I’m trying to drive the ball up the middle, towards right center, my lower half — everything — is working through the ball better.”
Laurila: When exactly did you begin reverting to your old approach?
Yorke: “I started doing that a little bit at the end of the ’23 season — I started dropping my hands back into a normal spot — but I would say the changes mainly happened over the offseason. I was working with my old coaches, my brothers, practicing using the middle of the field again.”
Laurila: What were your conversations like with the Red Sox? Were they OK with you changing back?
Yorke: “They were. At the end of the day, if you perform and produce, there’s not really much to say. The fact that I was performing better again this year definitely helped with those conversations.”
Laurila: You had better numbers in Worcester than you did in Portland. Did not having the high wall make it easier to employ your old approach? [Portland’s Hadlock Field has it’s own Green Monster; Worcester’s Polar Park does not.]
Yorke: “Maybe little bit, but I don’t think the field should really determine how you play the game. I was underperforming a little bit in Portland, but would I blame that on the wall? No. I just don’t think I was completely locked in or doing what I was capable of. The Eastern League is also pretty tough to hit in the first month or two, the weather being a factor and whatnot. I commend my teammates who were performing well in those first two months.”
Laurila: Those teammates include high-profile guys like Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kyle Teel. Did that put extra pressure to perform?
Yorke: “No, I wouldn’t say that. I just didn’t really get it going in the first month and a half, two months. After I got the call-up to Triple-A, some of those hits just started falling. From there, the confidence started building a little bit more. When that happens, you start performing a little better.”
Laurila: Is anything different for you here with the Pirates?
Yorke: “Not really. The guys here are awesome. I was in [Triple-A] Indianapolis for a month or so after the trade, and the guys there were awesome, as well. Coming into this org… I mean, they had a pretty good plan for me, what they wanted to see and what they wanted me to keep doing. I’ve kind of just run with that.”
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