Not going to lie, I was a little shocked when the Red Sox selected Nick Yorke in the 2020 MLB Draft. I’m not going to pretend I’ve seen one second of Yorke play high school baseball. I basically watched zero college baseball this year. The little homework I did do, I earmarked Mick Abel and Ed Howard as two players I wanted to Sox to pick. They went 15th and 16th overall right in front of Boston, of course.
Chaim Bloom shocked the world when the Sox took MLB’s 139th overall prospect 17th overall. The MLB Draft is not like other sports. They landed a well below slot deal with Yorke to give them more pool money in the other rounds. With the 2020 Draft only being 5 rounds, maybe there’s a method to the madness but I have no idea.
Chaim Bloom is really sticking his neck out there. This is his first draft pick with the big boy Red Sox. This isn’t Tampa Bay anymore. Nobody cares if you miss on a first round pick there. In Boston, the fans will not let this one go if Yorke turns into nothing.
I don’t really care what the Red Sox say about the pick. Of course, they’re going to like it because that’s who they picked. I was more encouraged with what Tim Corbin had to say. Corbin is maybe the most high profile manager in college baseball who has turned Vandy into a powerhouse. Corbin was part of the MLB Network coverage and had this to say:
“It wasn’t a surprise to me,” Corbin said Wednesday during MLB Network’s coverage of the draft. “We really recruited that kid. I thought he was the best hitter in high school baseball.”
Best hitter in high school baseball? Damn… I’ll take that? Again, who the hell knows if Nick Yorke will pan out. You and I have never seen the kid play but it’s a fun storyline to track as he makes his way through the Red Sox system.
