The Pittsburgh Pirates made their first move ahead of the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline, sending Quinn Priester to the Boston Red Sox and getting infielder Nick Yorke in return.
The Pirates entered this deadline needing offense. That need was boosted this weekend, when second baseman Nick Gonzales went down with a groin injury, which General Manager Ben Cherington said would take “weeks, not days” to return from. Second base became another one of the needs at the Major League level.
Yorke was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis after the deal was announced. With the trade, the Pirates boosted their infield depth, while trading from their depth of pitching. The deal could help the team in 2024, but will help more in the future.
Now: Boosting the Infield Depth
After Gonzales went down, the Pirates called up infielder Alika Williams to take his place. Williams had a nine game hitting streak in Triple-A before the call, batting .429/.556/.514 during that stretch. On the season in Triple-A, Williams was batting .327/.421/.394 in 122 plate appearances.
Williams has hit in Triple-A since joining the Pirates in 2023, in a trade that sent away Robert Stephenson. Williams has yet to carry that offense up to the big leagues, with a combined .202/.261/.264 line in 181 plate appearances across two seasons.
The Pirates also called up Ji Hwan Bae last week. His story is similar. He was hitting .355/.434/.497 in 214 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Bae has a career .237/.303/.312 line in 442 plate appearances at the big league level, and those numbers have been down in his brief time in the majors this year.
Jared Triolo has also been in the majors this year, capable of playing second base. He’s batting .198/.272/.266, which is down from his numbers in 2023. Triolo made his Major League debut last year with a .298/.388/.398 line, which was heavily influenced by a .440 batting average on balls in play. This year, he’s got a .260 BABIP, which is on the other side of the luck spectrum.
The Pirates also have 23-year-old Liover Peguero in Triple-A, though the former top prospect has been struggling this year, batting .249/.310/.393 with a 23.4% strikeout rate that has increased closer to 30% in the last month. Peguero isn’t an option at the moment.
Bae, Williams, and Triolo already gave the Pirates immediate depth behind Gonzales, although none of them are hitting this year. They’re also in their age 24-26 seasons, respectively.
Nick Yorke made some adjustments to his swing and approach this year, reducing his strikeout rate, and leading to good numbers at the Triple-A level. He’s batting .310/.408/.490 in 169 plate appearances. Those numbers are in a similar range to Bae and Williams in the minors.
There’s no guarantee that Yorke will hit better than the other options if he were to get the call to the majors. The addition was relatively low-cost for the Pirates, and gives another depth option to replace Gonzales in 2024 if the other three second basemen continue struggling in the majors.
Yorke is also in his age-22 season, so he has more potential for long-term value than the other three infielders.
Later: Another Second Base Candidate
Graded as a 45/High by Baseball America, Yorke profiles with the ceiling of a fringe-average starter. He’s got a chance to improve upon that with the adjustments he’s made this year at the plate. His potential at the plate is above-average contact and fringe-average power.
Long-term, the Pirates have Termarr Johnson as their best second base option. Johnson is in High-A during his age-20 season. After a slow start, he’s batting .284/.401/.490 with ten homers in 248 plate appearances since May 18th. Johnson shouldn’t be expected to reach the big leagues until mid-2026 at the earliest, which means the Pirates will need to roll with their upper-level options until then.
This is where the Yorke trade makes a lot of sense.
Gonzales is currently the starter at second base, though his injury will create a need for most of the remainder of the 2024 season. Gonzales is hitting .258/.293/.387 in 267 plate appearances at the big league level. He’s struggled the last two months, after a great first month. Gonzales is still showing positive value on defense, and in clutch situations at the plate.
If Gonzales does not show improvements next year, the Pirates could turn to Yorke as another starting option until Johnson arrives. They obviously need Johnson to reach his ceiling, but until that happens, Yorke gives them another option in 2025 and early 2026.
Yorke is three years younger than Gonzales, drafted out of high school in the first round of the 2020 draft, where Gonzales went seventh overall out of college. The last two years have been good development years for Yorke, and he’s got plenty of time to continue the positive trends at the plate.
There’s nothing that says the Pirates can’t or won’t call up Yorke this year to help the Major League need at second base. His biggest value is in the long-term, providing another potential starting option over the next two years. That’s valuable with Peguero declining and the other second base options having struggles in their Major League time.
Yorke very well might get a chance to show his stuff in the Majors by the end of this year.
Now and Later: Trading From the Pitching Depth
Quinn Priester has spent time in the Pirates’ rotation the last two years, but found himself in the bullpen this month. The relief results haven’t been better.
Priester doesn’t have a good fastball, sitting 93 MPH with a sinker that has been hit for an .844 OPS-against this year. His four-seam sits a tick lower, but has seen similar results, with an .849 OPS-against.
He throws a slider that has generated a 24% whiff rate, and has led to a -5 run value this year. The slider had a 41.4% whiff rate last year, but was hit around a lot. It has declined this year in the swing and miss department, while still getting hit around. His best pitches have been his least-used offerings: A curveball with a 45.5% whiff rate, and a changeup with a .209 wOBA against.
Boston could re-work the arsenal of Priester, and they apparently do good work with guys who have bad fastballs. It wouldn’t be a loss for the Pirates if Priester went elsewhere and had success.
The current Major League rotation is headlined by Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, and Jared Jones when he returns from injury. Luis Ortiz has also recently stepped up in his age-25 season, helping to make Priester expendable.
Currently, the Pirates have Martin Perez, Marco Gonzales, and Bailey Falter to fill out the 2024 group, with Falter under control for several more seasons. Beyond that trio, they have Domingo German and Jake Woodford as depth options in Triple-A.
Next year, the Pirates will see the return of Johan Oviedo, who was one of the best starters on the Pirates in 2023, before going down with Tommy John surgery. The Pirates also have a group of top pitching prospects in the upper levels. Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, and Thomas Harrington could all be pushing toward the big league roster by this time next season.
Looking ahead to 2025, the Pirates currently have Falter, Ortiz, and Oviedo to fill out the final two spots in the Opening Day rotation behind the big three right-handers. They also have a trio of right-handed prospects who will likely be pitching out of Triple-A. And this is a club that has added left-handed pitching from the outside every season under Cherington.
Trading From Depth to Add Depth
This move doesn’t do much to move the needle for the 2024 season. Yorke gives the Pirates another second base prospect to try out in the big leagues, which could be valuable if Gonzales misses a lot of time and the alternatives continue to struggle.
Priester was, at best, the number eight starter on this year’s depth chart, and without any outside additions, would have been the seventh best starting option on Opening Day next year. He also likely would have moved down as the season progressed, with three of the system’s top five prospects all on the verge of reaching the majors.
The Pirates traded from an area of strong depth to boost an area where their depth wasn’t as deep. Yorke can help the Pirates this year, and has more value to the team than Priester in the next two-plus years, giving them another second base candidate until Termarr Johnson arrives.
