When the Red Sox drafted Nick Yorke with the 17th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, reports quickly followed that the 18-year-old would sign for a below-slot deal.
Those reports proved accurate Tuesday, as the infielder put pen to paper on his new contract at Fenway Park.
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Instead of the $3.61 million slotted by MLB for the No. 17 pick, Yorke received $2.7 million, per MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis. The discount makes sense, with Yorke ranked as the No.139 prospect ahead of the draft, though the Red Sox believed he would have jumped up into the first round had there been a full high school season instead of only five games before the season was suspended.
Yorke's agency, Apex Baseball, documented the signing on Instagram, and Yorke quickly followed with his own post.
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The Sox are high on Yorke's offense, with Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom raving about his "special bat" after the Draft and Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin praising Yorke as "the best hitter in high school baseball." Yorke hit .503 in his final three high school seasons, and had gone .533 this year before the season was put on pause.
With Yorke's signing, the Red Sox have locked up their first two picks from this year's Draft. While Yorke signed for about a million below his slot, Boston signed third-round pick Blaze Jordan to a deal about a million over the slotted value for the No. 89 pick.