The Red Sox optioned two players and reassigned eight non-roster invitees to minor-league camp on Monday. Chief among them was infield prospect Nick Yorke.
Taking part in his second big-league camp, Yorke appeared in 15 Grapefruit League games for Boston this spring. The right-handed hitting 21-year-old went just 2-for-22 (.091) with a pair of singles, three walks, and seven strikeouts. He did, however, go 2-for-2 with a double and RBI in this past Saturday’s Spring Breakout showcase against the Braves at JetBlue Park.
Manager Alex Cora described Yorke’s offensive output as lacking during a Monday interview with reporters, which included Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. The entire camp seemed to be positioned between him. He wasn’t given many chances because he wasn’t very adaptable. He was a terrific second base player. Good intuition when he was on the bases.
“However, he was drafted with the intention of being an offensive middle infielder, so that was his ticket,” Cora continued. And we need to return to that. Now, calm down and go finish the work wherever he starts, is my thought. Player development, or PD, will decide that. Get his at-bats and return to the hitter that the team saw in him when they selected him in the 20th round.