Nick Yorke finds success in comfort
This season has been a banner year for Nick Yorke. He’s seeing success at baseball’s highest levels and is on the cusp of making his Major League debut.
However, the real story started at home in California. Yorke’s mother, Robyn, was a four-time All-American softball player at Fresno State. In fact, he affectionately called her a “stud.”
While Robyn was a school teacher, and preached education first, once that was complete, the agenda shifted to their common interest of athletics.
“It was finding the nearest park so that we could play some ball,“ Yorke said. “It was any sport really. We’d play football in the front yard, wiffleball, basketball, the whole bit. It was super cool growing up in a house like that.”
That household included a pair of brothers who played college baseball — Joe and Zach. Between the unit, it’s been easy for Yorke to find comfort and support in the game he loves. Not to mention, he always has someone to lean on when he needs some off-season work.
“Going home for the off-season, I have two brothers that want to hit every second that we can or go hit me grounders,” Yorke said. “It’s been cool to have siblings and a mom that’s super into baseball.”
Yorke also still sends in-season videos to his family for any tips, along with his past hitting coaches from home because “they know me better than anyone.”
On the field and with that family-scrutinized swing, Yorke takes pride in putting the ball in play and avoiding the strikeout. He has shown that in his time with Indianapolis, striking out just 16 times in his first 24 games.
This approach has paid off, as he is hitting .367 with 11 doubles with Indianapolis over that span. Several of his extra-base hits have also gone the other way.
This is the game plan that Yorke is most comfortable with and what was lacking last season in the Red Sox organization.
“I kind of got away from that last year in 2023,” Yorke said. “They were looking for more power output. At the end of the day, while I was trying to get more power output, I didn’t feel like I was putting that up, while I was losing my contact. Getting the freedom to go back to that has been awesome.”
Additionally, Yorke is comfortable physically. He was limited to just 80 games in 2022 but is set to surpass his career high in games played either this week or next.
“It feels good to be healthy,” Yorke said. “To exceed the 100-game mark two seasons in a row means a lot. Half of it is finding a rhythm and getting into a groove at the plate and the only way you can do that is to get consistent at-bats.”
A comfortable Yorke has proven to be a productive version of himself. He could also prove to be one of the biggest steals of the 2024 trade deadline.
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His two brothers are brick houses. Zach at GCU, played with Jacob Wilson, and Joe at Cal Poly
Yorke needs to be on the 40-man this off-season. He's had 63 games of success in Triple-A, which is not a small sample size. I'd like to see him up and getting ABs against big league pitchers as soon as possible (ideally that's about a week ago). Triple-A season doesn't end until the 22nd. You wait that long "because he's getting regular ABs in Indianapolis" and there's one week left in the MLB schedule. No reason he can't be in the Pirates lineup during each of the final 29 games