Chaim Bloom bets big on top Red Sox draftee Nick Yorke

FORT MYERS, Fla.— Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom took a big flier last summer. In his first MLB draft since joining the Sox, he bet the house on an 18-year-old high school second baseman who wasn’t even a top 100 amateur player on some lists.

To put it in perspective, there was plenty of head scratching around baseball’s executive offices when the Sox grabbed Nick Yorke with the 17th overall selection. The consensus: What was Bloom thinking? Did we miss something? 

Just remember, though, Bloom was one of the key architects in building Tampa Bay’s farm system, which is now considered to be the game’s gold standard. It appears he’s off to a good start beefing up Boston’s minor league system after Dave Dombrowski pretty much left the cupboard bare.

Bloom and his scouting staff disagreed with the naysayers. They identified Yorke as a certain first-round talent and saw him as one of the best pure hitters in the draft.

When manager Alex Cora saw Yorke take batting practice right after camp opened, he asked, “Wow, who is that kid?”

Three years shy of drinking age, Yorke is a confident, California kid who seems unfazed by his first adventure in a big-league camp. In his first at-bat last Monday, he singled against the Braves and later worked a walk.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself,” Yorke said. “I believe I can hit off any pitcher there is.”

His single was hit off A.J. Minter, one of the mainstays of the Braves’ bullpen last year.

“Going back to last year in Pawtucket,” Yorke said, “I was facing a lot of those Triple-A guys, so, coming in, I knew what to expect. It kind of led to this being a little easier and this transition to be a little smoother.”

The Sox have put Yorke on the fast track. He missed what would have been his first minor league season in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, so they called him to the alternate training site late in the summer.

This spring, he was invited to spring training as a non-roster player, a rarity for kids as young as Yorke. In Sarasota on Thursday, he found himself in the starting lineup as the designated hitter. He went 0-for-3 and left the bases loaded in the first inning.

Cora said he was impressed by Yorke not showing any nerves against Minter, and how he also handled his first at-bat. Yorke took three pitches and then found a pitch he liked and singled to left center.

“I was thinking of where I was when I was 18 — probably in Miami, going to Coconut Grove or something like that, hanging out,” Cora said. “It was good, it was cool, that was tremendous. He’s here to learn. He’s here to be around big leaguers and learn how to act in the clubhouse, how to be a professional. You can see, he controls the strike zone, controls his at-bats and started a routine double play that we didn’t turn, but that was the highlight of the day, having that kid play.”

Yorke’s offseason conditioning saw him lose about 25 pounds.

“In Pawtucket and in [Instructional League], I wasn’t in the greatest shape,” Yorke acknowledged. “Going into my first offseason, we made a goal to lose 10 to 15 pounds before I came back. Just focusing on that, I came back and lost 25 … just focusing on the nutrition piece and worrying about getting yourself right for the season and not worrying about anything. You definitely put a lot more time into yourself and into your body.”

Yorke said he’s living every kid’s dream.

“It’s amazing. It’s been a lot of fun out here. Just a couple years ago, I was watching spring training games, let alone playing in them. It was a blast. It was good to be out on a field again.

“Once [the umpire] said, ‘Play ball,’ I was ready to go. 

“I didn’t have a lot of nerves. It’s baseball. At the end of the day, it’s just a game. I was just trying to go and have some fun. I’m working out with all the infielders, so, yes, just try to be a sponge. They’ve been in this game a lot longer than me, so I’m just trying to take what I can from them and piece this thing together.”

While Yorke has developed some big fans in the Sox clubhouse, there’s none bigger than his mother back home in San Jose, California. He’s hoping she makes it to Fort Myers this month.

“I’m hoping they’ll give me a call and come out for a weekend and come watch some baseball,” he said.

“My mom is the biggest baseball rat there is.”

Just like her son.