2 prospects from the 2024 trade deadline the Pittsburgh Pirates wasted this year

There are a lot of things to be frustrated about regarding Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington's reign of terror. One of those many flashpoints is how he handles the Major League roster.

Cherington has been very reserved on some prospects, to say the least, and has arguably wasted the full seasons of two minor leaguers he acquired at the 2024 trade deadline.

At the time, it seemed like these men were two Major League-ready top prospects that the team likely hoped could contribute in the big leagues in 2025. But the Pirates will never know if they could have helped them this season, as they barely gave either an opportunity.

2 trade deadline additions the Pirates completely wasted in 2025

Nick Yorke

Nick Yorke is now just getting his first chance to play in the Major Leagues this season as a September call-up, but this is something the Pirates should have done well over a month ago. Yorke did everything he could last year, along with performing well earlier this year, to get a meaningful call to the Major Leagues.

Yorke was acquired for Quinn Priester and was having an impressive 2024 season at the time. He had a .918 OPS, .409 wOBA, and 143 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. The young infielder made his MLB debut last season as well, going yard twice and putting up a .377 xwOBA, albeit in a small 11-game sample size. Yorke has since spent the entire year at Triple-A Indianapolis.

While his production has taken a step back, he still has a respectable .287/.348/.406 triple-slash, .342 wOBA, and 103 wRC+ over 442 plate appearances. Yorke has drawn a walk 8.2% of the time, with a 22% K%. He has only hit seven home runs with an isolated slugging percentage of .120. Yorke has put up a solid 25.2% whiff rate, but his average exit velocity fell from 91.5 MPH last season to 87.5 MPH this season.

Yorke has been hitting much better since the start of July, slashing .304/.351/.456. He is hitting for more power, with a .152 isolated slugging percentage, while striking out less frequently. Yorke has a K% below 20% at 19.3%, with a 19.7% whiff rate over this time period. This all comes to a .807 OPS, .359 wOBA, and 113 wRC+ over his last 171 plate appearances.

Yorke is a primary second baseman, but the Pirates aren't forced to use him exclusively at the keystone. He has seen a handful of games in both outfield corners. He also logged some starts at first base. Last year, he started a few games at shortstop and the hot corner, including one start at third base in the Major Leagues. There would have been more than enough opportunities to get Yorke into games at least semi-regularly before September.

It's hard to pinpoint an exact reason why Yorke was kept at Triple-A for so long. It wasn't to save money. They would have been better off if they'd kept Yorke on the Major League roster and dumped Isiah Kiner-Falefa before the deadline. It wasn't because they wanted to give him playing time in the minors while being blocked off at the MLB level, either. Yorke could have seen time in the outfield over Alexander Canario or Jack Suwinski, as a right-handed hitting platoon partner at first base with Spencer Horwitz, and filled in at second base when Nick Gonzales missed about two months earlier this year. Why he was kept down for so long, we will never know. But not giving him a call until September definitley wasted most of his season.

Billy Cook 

The other prospect who was acquired around the 2024 deadline, and has seen his services ignored, was Billy Cook. Like Yorke, Cook had a great season at Triple-A in 2024 and was given a brief cameo in the Major Leagues last season. He went yard three times, and racked up +6 defensive runs saved and +2 outs above average in less than 100 games in the outfield. He also looked solid at first base. He may have struck out 19 times with no walks in 49 plate appearances, but his outstanding fielding and home runs were valuable enough.

But the Pirates apparently didn't feel Cook was ready for an extended look in the show. He was sent back to Triple-A, where he slashed .269/.351/.348 with a .324 wOBA and 91 wRC+ through the end of June. Cook was hitting for a decent average and drawing walks at a 10.7% rate, which helped his OBP, but he hit just a single home run and had a 4.5% barrel rate. Cook was whiffing 30.8% of the time and went down on strike three in 27.5% of his plate appearances.

Then, at the start of July, Cook appeared to have found something that was working. Sure, his .708 OPS, .308 wOBA, and 81 wRC+ weren't great, but he was swinging and missing less, with a 26.6% whiff rate, and was making far better contact, going yard seven times in 113 plate appearances and posting a 10.7% barrel rate. A .206 batting average on balls in play indicated some bad luck, but things were trending in the right direction for Cook, and once his BABIP stabilized, he would be back on track. That was until he was hit on the hand by a pitch. He hasn't played since Aug. 3.

Cook was brought up for three Major League games this year, two of which were a doubleheader. The question is, why was Cook not given more playing time while he was healthy? The Pirates aren't going to convince many, if any, fans that Alexander Canario deserved a roster spot more than Cook. Canario has been on the active roster nearly the whole season. He has about the same number of DRS as Cook did last year, with +7, but in 440 innings. He is also in the negatives in OAA, and he has never played first base (although he has recently taken some ground balls there). While both Cook and Canario struggle with strikeouts at the Major League level, at least Cook can charge one out of the park at a decent rate. Canario has had seven homers in 200 plate appearances and a .120 ISO.

It's not as if having Canario over Cook is a money-saving move, either. Both would be making league minimum salaries. If anything, it would have been cheaper to have Cook in the big leagues and never touch Canario, whom they acquired for cash (along with his salary). Canario has appeared in 71 games. That's 71 contests that Cook could have appeared in. He could have also filled in as Horwitz's right-handed hitting platoon partner (and Enmanuel Valdez's platoon partner when he was filling in for Horwitz).

The unfortunate thing is, Cook may not get another shot in the Major Leagues this season. He has been out for about a month now, and the Pirates likely wouldn't give him another call to the big leagues without at least having him spend a week or two rehabbing. Indianapolis' season ends on the 21st of the months. The Pirates essentially wasted Cook's entire 2025 season for a brief cameo that felt forced because there happened to be a doubleheader that day.