Nick Yorke’s metrics could make him an impact player for the 2025 Pirates

One of the notable trades the Pittsburgh Pirates made at the 2024 trade deadline involved sending former first-round pick Quinn Priester to the Boston Red Sox for another former first-rounder, Nick Yorke. The Pirates needed (and still need) young position player talent in their farm system, and Yorke provided just that. Not only did he rake at Triple-A this past year, but he has some strong underlying metrics that are extremely promising, and could make him a potential impact player in 2025 for the Bucs.

Yorke hit to the tune of a .333/.420/.498 with a .409 wOBA and 143 wRC+ in 344 plate appearances against Triple-A pitchers. He also hit for some power with eight home runs, 25 doubles, and a .165 isolated slugging percentage. In the process, he kept his strikeout rate under wraps with just an 18.9% rate. The infielder also drew his fair share of walks, with a 12.2% BB%.
Overall, he was one of the best batters at Triple-A. He ranked in the top five in both wRC+ and wOBA, and was 15th in OPS (min. 300 plate appearances).

Yorke was great, but his numbers under the hood back up his performance. According to Thomas Nestico, Yorke had some of the best metrics at Triple-A. He was in the 95th percentile or greater in xwOBA (.360), average exit velocity (91.5 MPH), and hard-hit rate (50.2%). He was also well above average in multiple other important numbers.

Yorke showed off well above-average plate discipline. His out-of-zone swing rate of 24.2% was in the top 72nd percentile of batters. When he did swing, he didn’t miss frequently. Yorke had just a 20.8% whiff percentage, which was in the top 78th percentile. The only notable stat in which he was below average was barrel rate at 5.2%, which fell in the 44th percentile. Still, he was in the 89th percentile of launch angle sweet spot rate.

Nick Yorke has traits that prove he could be impact player with 2025 Pirates

Unsurprisingly, batters who make hard contact, don’t swing outside the zone frequently, and don’t swing and miss a lot are typically good batters. Last season, 30 batters in the major leagues had an average or better exit velocity, out-of-zone swing rate, and whiff rate in at least 300 plate appearances. Of those 30, 24 produced an average or better wOBA. 24 of the 30 batters also had an above-average xwOBA.

Yorke also seems to know how to play into his strengths. Despite being in the 95th percentile of xwOBA and being in the top three of wRC+ at Triple-A, he was in just the 1st percentile for pulled ball rate and the 4th percentile for pulled fly ball rate. However, being a pull hitter didn’t work very well for Yorke in previous seasons. Between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he had a 44.4% pull rate. It resulted in a .735 OPS, .334 wOBA, and 102 wRC+. Yorke cut that down to just 33.8% in 2024 and saw a huge boost in production.

Yorke’s mixture of plate discipline and raw power could carry him far. He may never be a big home run hitter, but his ability to spray hard-hit line drives all over the field, while keeping his strikeout rate down and his walk rate up, could make him one of the Pirates’ better batters in the very near future. Only time will tell, but the tools for a good hitter are there within Yorke.