Robyn Yorke missed the first call.
She was cleaning the Yorke family’s new home in Tucson, and didn’t immediately notice that her son Nick, a top prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and Archbishop Mitty alumnus, had phoned her on Sunday afternoon.
When she glanced at her cell some minutes later, she noticed missed calls from Nick and Joe, another one of her sons who recently wrapped up his baseball career at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
She had also received a succinct text message from Joe. That message?
CALL NICK.
“My first instinct was, did I miss his last at bat? Did he get hurt?” Robyn said. “You walk out of the room, and he might have been up to bat. I thought I missed something originally. And Nick, he can be kind of a jokester, so he gets on the phone and is calm as a cucumber when he tells me. So it was a moment for sure.”
Robyn had been watching Nick’s game with Triple-A Indianapolis that afternoon, and no, she had not missed an at-bat. Instead, her son’s dream was coming to fruition – he was headed to the big leagues.
She certainly wasn’t going to miss Nick’s next at-bat.
Pittsburgh Pirates’ Nick Yorke flies out during the second inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
“I walked around my house like 25 different times with the phone in my hand, having no idea what I’m doing,” Robyn said. “Calling my husband, who was in California at the time. He had just flown back to work that morning, and he’s like, ‘I’m getting on plane tickets right now. Where’s Joe coming from? Where’s Zach coming from?’”
Zach, Nick’s other brother, drove down to Tucson from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, where he – shockingly – plays baseball. Joe flew out from Washington, where he attends grad school.
The family caravan eventually met up in St. Louis for Nick’s MLB debut on Monday night against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
“We all knew this day was coming with how talented he is and how hard he works,” Joe said. “There was never any doubt when he decided to sign after he got drafted out of high school and forego college. It was just a matter of when.
“This is all about our mom, how much time and money that she’s put into all three of our baseball careers. For her to get to have this moment is everything we ever could have dreamed of. And we’re all just so happy for her, and obviously for him as well.”
Fresno State four-time softball All-American Robyn Yorke, center poses for a portrait with her sons who are Archbishop Mitty high school baseball players Joe Yorke, 17, left, and Nick Yorke 16, right, at Archbishop Mitty high school in San Jose, California, on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)
Nick was drafted No. 17 overall in 2020 by the Boston Red Sox after a standout prep career at Mitty. He was named all-Bay Area News Group in 2019, when he hit .505 with a .587 on-base percentage, seven home runs and 40 runs batted in.
Nick was traded to Pittsburgh on July 29 for fellow former first-round pick Quinn Priester. Less than two months later, the Pirates called him up.
Monday came and went without a hit for Nick in his big-league debut. But he more than made up for it on Tuesday.
After recording his first major league knock with a single to right-center field in the fifth inning, Nick doubled down in the seventh with a single to right. He finished off the night with a single to center off Cardinals All-Star closer Ryan Helsley.
“Unbelievable,” Robyn said. “Everyone that’s texted me, I’ve said I feel so fortunate to be able to be here and have the boys here and family here and friends here. You find this out on a Sunday afternoon, and everybody’s getting off of school and work. Zach’s in college, and his baseball coach is like, ‘Go. You go do this.’
“We’re in the stands, just high-fiving and knowing that he knows we’re there and we’re supporting him all the time.”
Afterward, Nick delivered the ball from his first hit to Robyn and embraced those who had traveled to see him. At dinner that night, he broke down his at-bats alongside Joe and Zach.
Archbishop Mitty high school baseball players Joe Yorke, 17, right, and Nick Yorke 16, left, pose for portrait at Archbishop Mitty high school in San Jose, California, on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)
“You could tell he wanted that first hit,” Joe said. “He wanted it, and he knew it was going to come. And then to go out and get three hits the next day is just the most Nick Yorke thing ever. When Nick puts up three hits in the box score, there’s no shock there.”
Joe and Zach went through and analyzed each pitch with Nick during dinner after both games. It was a moment Robyn, a four-time All-American softball player at Fresno State, will remember for a long time.
“Last night at dinner, I hit my husband on the shoulder, I go, ‘I love this,’ Robyn said. “I’m listening to them banter about each pitch, the spin, the velocity off the bat. It’s what I remember as a kid doing with my dad, without those kinds of details. But that analyzing the game on the back side is just a huge family memory.”
“That’s pretty much what we use all our time together to do,” Joe added. “So it doesn’t change now that he’s up in the big leagues.”
Pittsburgh Pirates’ Nick Yorke singles during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
