9-19-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
With an offense that has been largely ineffective all season, it has been a breath of fresh air to call up two of our top position player prospects in Nick Yorke and Billy Cook.
Sure, they weren’t developed by this organization, per se, with Cook coming over from the Orioles in exchange for RHP Patrick Reilly and Yorke being shipped from Boston for RHP Quinn Priester but when you have surplus in a certain role and a need in another, you deal from depth to gain production.
And that is certainly showing since the Pirates added both of these players over the past two weeks as Yorke already has multiple hits in 2 of his first 3 games and Cook hit a go-ahead 3-run home run against the Cardinals just last night.
So, given that this is the time to figure out exactly what we have and what we need heading into the offseason, what exactly do we have with Cook and Yorke?
Cook
A 10th round pick out of Pepperdine University three years ago, Cook struggled to gain traction in a loaded Orioles system, posting a .231/.305/.437 line with 180 strikeouts to 43 walks in 565 plate appearances across the lowest levels of the minor leagues.
However, over the past two years, he has managed to find his niche, posting a .262/.347/.465 slash line between AA/AAA ball with 41 home runs and 40 doubles over 994 plate appearances – including posting an .875 OPS over 126 plate appearances with Indianapolis Indians post-trade – boosting his walk rate from 7.6% to 10.2% and cutting his K rate down to 24.2% from 31.9%.
And, again, the power is there.
Defensively, he’s played all over the field but mostly has featured in the outfield, showing of a strong arm with several assists already in his short MLB tenure as well as his 90th percentile speed to cover a ton of grass quickly.
Long-term, he potentially ends up as a corner outfielder who can shift to 1B at times as needed, striking out a bunch but also poking a fair amount of long-balls as a solid-to-above-average outfielder at PNC Park.
Yorke
Trading a prospect for a prospect at the deadline is one thing but trading a former first round pick who is actively pitching for your big league club as you are actively contending for a playoff spot is a bit different.
That said, Nick Yorke quickly endeared himself to Pirate prospects fanatics, batting .355/.431/.507 over 175 plate appearances at Indy before finally earning a call-up earlier this week.
A 2020 first round pick, Yorke has had success throughout the minors with a .284/.365/.443 slash line over 1,862 minor league plate appearances.
Unlike Cook, Yorke is not a huge power threat with only 50 minor league round-trippers but he has shown plus-plate discipline and finds gaps with doubles and logged 33 two-baggers in 123 minor league games this season.
While he has mostly played 2B, he also bounces into the outfield. I would think he sticks in the infield – mostly because he can make plays like this even in the swirling winds at LECOM.
Conclusion
The team needs offense and these two have the ability to provide said offense in different ways. Will they be productive contributors pushing this team over the top to become playoff contenders in 2025?
Probably not on their own, but they are at the very least complementary pieces that provide upgrades over some other options this team has trotted out throughout the course of this rebuild. And you gotta hope that eventually some other pieces break through and we get back into playoff baseball once more.
Steel City Pirates 