BRADENTON, Florida – Four years after starring for Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Nick Yorke is battling for a spot on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Opening Day roster.
Even if he starts the season in Triple-A, he’s definitely in the team’s plans. Yorke is understandably eager to make his mark with the Pirates after a promising debut late last season, but the 22-year-old infielder knows his time will come.
That kind of patience hasn’t come naturally — or easily. In fact, his frustration threatened to get the best of him during his second season of pro ball.
About 13 months after being selected by Boston in the first round of the 2020 draft, Yorke was having a rough day playing second base for the Single-A Salem Red Sox during a game on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Sensing Yorke’s angst, then-Salem manager Luke Montz – a former catcher in the majors with Oakland and Washington – sent an assistant out to coach third base in his stead as the visitors came to the plate. In the Salem dugout during a game at Baltimore affiliate Delmarva, Montz had a heart-to-heart chat with Yorke.
“This is going to make you better,” Montz told Yorke, who later that night thanked his skipper for the exchange during the game.
The next day, Yorke put on an impressive batting practice session – “It was unreal,” noted Montz – and in the game collected three hits, including a homer, in that July 2021 contest.
“I don’t remember that exact conversation but I had a lot of talks with Luke,” said Yorke, who turns 23 on April 2. “I had some ups and downs that season and having him as a manager, I learned a lot, just in terms of controlling your emotions and going through the ups and downs of a season. That was the first guy I learned that from in pro ball. I have nothing but good things to say about Luke.”
Less than four years later, Yorke is on the Pirates’ 40-man roster and aiming for a spot on the Opening Day roster.
“It has been a lot of fun. I feel we have a lot of high-level players,” said Yorke, standing in the Pirates’ clubhouse before a recent spring training game against the Orioles.
Yorke hit .323 with 10 homers and 47 RBIs in 76 games in that season with Salem, then moved up to Double-A Portland in the Red Sox system. He had advanced to Triple-A Worcester in 2024 when he was traded to the Pirates last summer.
“Yeah, a little surprised. But my agent did a good of letting me know what was going on,” he said of the trade.
Yorke reported to Triple-A Indianapolis in the Pirates system and hit .355 in 41 games.
Meet me in St. Louis
A few weeks later, he was called up to the majors for the first time. Yorke made his MLB debut at St. Louis on Sept. 16. “Just being able to have my whole family there was pretty cool,” said Yorke, whose parents, brothers, and friends were on hand.
The infielder had three hits the next day in St. Louis and hit his first homer in the majors on Sept. 22 off Fernando Cruz in a win at Cincinnati.
“I remember the first homer. It was against Cruz, who has one of the best splitters in baseball. It was a pretty special interaction I had with one of our coaches – he said the best way to deal with the splitter is hit a first-pitch fastball,” said Yorke, who did just that.
In his first taste of the majors, Yorke was 8 for 27 (.216) with two homers, two steals and four RBIs. He was not overwhelmed by the experience.
“I was around a lot of big leaguers in the minors; I don’t think anything really shocked me,” he said. “It was super cool to be a part of it. To share a locker room (in the majors) was pretty special.”
Fellow infielder Nick Gonzales, who broke in with the Pirates in 2023, said Yorke takes well to advice from older players.
“He is a great player and can impact the game in so many different ways,” said Gonzales, who played at New Mexico State and is from Arizona. “I have been watching him hit and he is a great fielder as well. He has played the outfield, too. He has done a great job. He is always learning. He is consistently learning and that is a great attribute of a great player.”
Yorke came up as a second baseman but the Pirates value players who can play short, third and second.
“Honestly, I am having fun with it. I think it is really cool” to play more than one position, Yorke said. “Perhaps I can crack the big leagues (as a regular) at another position besides second base. It opens more opportunity for you.”
Yorke is even getting a look at first base, thanks to his bat.
Aiming high
Yorke figures to start the season at Triple-A unless he cracks the Opening Day roster.
“I am not playing (general manager). I am just showing up every day with a good attitude and playing the best, I can,” he said. “If they think I can help the big-league team, I am going to do everything I can.”
“He can really hit,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton told reporters at the Winter Meetings. ” I think that’s the thing. He controls the zone. He has the ability to drive the ball to right-center field. As a young hitter, he controls the middle of the diamond. He is a bonafide gap-to-gap guy. You’d like to talk about the ability to stay in the middle [of the] field, he has it. I don’t know if we’ve had a young hitter over the last couple of years who controls the at-bats as well as he does at such a young age. It was a good trade for us. We were able to get an impactful guy.”
He has no qualms about learning the ropes in the minors as a teenager, instead of going the college route.
“I wouldn’t change that for anything,” said Yorke. “I would not change it for the world. I learned so much about myself in the minors. It made me the player I am today.”
Yorke was born in Huntington Beach and moved to San Jose when he was 10. Baseball is a big part of his roots.
One brother, Joe, played baseball at Mitty, then at Boise State and Cal Poly and is a high school coach in Washington state while another brother, Zach, is on the roster in college at Grand Canyon as a junior first baseman.
Their father, David, was a swimmer at Air Force and their mother played softball at Fresno State from 1994-98 and is considered one of the top players in program history. She was a four-time All-American and aided the Bulldogs’ 1998 national title squad.
Montz, now the Double-A Arkansas manager in the Padres’ system, has no doubt Yorke will also excel – and not just because of that one night four years ago at Single-A.
“He was one of my favorite managers,” Yorke said of Montz, who played 13 games for the A’s in 2013.
“The Red Sox scouts liked him a lot; they didn’t miss. They got a first-class human being, a young kid who was driven to be the best,” Montz said.
Editor’s note: David Driver covered the Washington Nationals from 2013-22 for several publications, including the World Series year of 2019 for The Washington Times. He is the former sports editor of papers in Baltimore and Viginia and is the co-author of “From Tidewater to the Shenandoah: Snapshots from Virginia’s Rich Baseball Legacy,” available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at daytondavid.com.