Yorke named Sox minor league offensive player of the year

BOSTON — Last summer, the Red Sox shocked the industry by taking Nick Yorke with their firstround pick. Yorke did not ignore the questions about the wisdom of his selection.

“It’s motivation. I mean, I still know the number. I was ranked 139th going into the draft by Perfect Game,” Yorke said, referring to the prominent showcase organizers. “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, [I] try to make the most of it and prove to them that I’m better than 139th.”

Yorke managed to do just that in his pro debut in 2021. The 19-yearold, who started with Low-a Salem and concluded it with High-a Greenville, produced a startling line, hitting .325/.412/.516 with 14 homers in 97 games.

Those numbers are even more surprising given Yorke’s early-season struggles. He hit .177 with a .440 OPS in May. But from June

through the end of the season, he hit .361/.450/.598. In so doing, he earned Red Sox minor league offensive player of the year honors, an award he received at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

“I was lucky the season wasn’t a month or else I wouldn’t be here,” Yorke chuckled.

The fact that Yorke produced such an eye-popping line as a teenager put him in rare company. The last comparable season by a Red Sox minor leaguer in the lower levels was in 2014, when the feats of 20-year-old Mookie

Betts yielded phenom status over a .314/.417/.506 performance with Greenville and Salem.

While Triston Casas, who was scheduled to make his Triple A debut on Wednesday, is generally viewed as the top Red Sox prospect, some evaluators now place Yorke ahead of Casas. Others who continue to rank Casas ahead of Yorke believe that Yorke has a chance to claim top prospect status given the greater value of his position (second base, as opposed to first base for Casas) and the fact that he’s already showed dominance at an early stage.

That conversation is not a slight on Casas — still viewed as a lock to be an everyday big leaguer, with some seeing middle-of-the-order star potential — as much as it is a reflection of a remarkable performance by Yorke, who hopes that his visit to Fenway is a prelude to many more.

“It’s surreal,” Yorke said. “[I’m] very, very grateful … that the Red Sox gave me a chance to be able to even have an opportunity of playing