Red Sox Surprisingly Trade Top Prospect to NL Playoff Hopeful

The Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates swapped former first-round picks on Monday, as Boston dealt their sixth-best prospect, second baseman Nick Yorke, to Pittsburgh in exchange for pitcher Quinn Priester.

The trade comes as somewhat of a surprise, as Yorke has been performing well since his call-up to Triple-A Worcester on June 5. In his first 11 games after being called up, Yorke hit .405 with nine RBI. In 38 games with the WooSox, he has hit .310/.408/.490 with six home runs and 19 runs batted in. The 22-year-old seemed like a prime candidate to eventually be called up this season.

Yorke was a stunning selection by the Boston Red Sox in 2020. Heading into the draft, the second baseman was ranked as the 139th-best prospect, yet Chaim Bloom took the right-handed bat with the 17th overall pick.

Priester, 23, was the Pirates' 18th overall selection in the 2019 MLB Draft and made his MLB debut last July.

Priester's big-league numbers are not great, to put it mildly. In 20 career big league games (14 starts), Priester holds a 5-9 record with a 6.46 ERA. The Red Sox appear to be banking on pitching coach Andrew Bailey being able to rehabilitate Priester and take advantage of his youth.

Boston's front office likely saw something in Priester's analytics that enticed them, and they must feel comfortable with the pipeline of second baseman.

Alex Cora also mentioned on Sunday that catcher Connor Wong could begin to take ground balls at second base after the acquisition of catcher Danny Jansen. David Hamilton, Romy Gonzalez, and Jamie Westbrook could all help contribute at second, while Vaughn Grissom could return soon from injury. As a position group, Sox second basemen are hitting a team-low .191.

Priester's contract has minor league options remaining, so there is no guarantee that he will be placed on the big league roster immediately. He could be optioned to Triple-A Worcester to work out some of his game.

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