The Pittsburgh Nicks – Yorke and Gonzales Providing Pirates With Infield Depth

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly has a luxury this season that he didn’t have during his first season running the dugout in 2025. This season’s roster has bench power. No, not necessarily power, as in clubbing home runs or being a big run producer. What he has is players that can and have been stepping into situations in meaningful games where they are expected to be difference-makers.

Nick Yorke and Nick Gonzales, both No. 1 draft picks, made the Opening Day roster and haven’t been collecting splinters on the bench. Heading into Wednesday’s game on the road with the Texas Rangers, the Pirates are trailing the first-place Cincinnati Reds by two games in the National League Central. Pittsburgh has a 13-10 record.

In Tuesday’s series opener in Arlington, Texas, both Yorke and Gonzales were in the starting lineup. With starting second baseman Brandon Lowe on the shelf nursing left knee discomfort, it was Gonzales, the Pirates’ No. 1 draft pick in 2020, who Kelly called on to fill in. In four at-bats, Gonzales slapped two hits in four trips to the plate.

As for Yorke, the Boston Red Sox's top draft selection in 2020, he was acquired in a trade for Pirates’ pitcher Quinn Priester in late July 2024. He also was called upon by Kelly to patrol third base in Tuesday’s game in Texas. Jared Triolo, the regular third baseman at the start of the season, is in Bradenton rehabilitating what has been said to be a right knee patellar tendon injury.

So far, Yorke has come off the bench, as well as started in 18 of Pittsburgh’s 23 games. Gonzales have started and filled in all but three games this season. Both infielders who have been positioned in all four places – first base, second base, shortstop, and third base, appear comfortable in their utility roles.

When shortstop Konnor Griffin joined the Pirates in time for the season’s Opening Day earlier this month, this left one less open infield position. When Lowe came over in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in December, it was clear that Gonzales had lost the position he manned last season to the tune of 85 games. He has played at second base for six games, so far, in 2026.

Yorke, along with his outfield assignments, Kelly has spread his “super sub” at first base (2 games), 13 games at third base, and even one time in the lineup as the designated hitter. Being talented enough to have your manager’s confidence to be plugged in wherever a need calls for is not only a feather in Yorke and Gonzales’ caps, but it assures them a spot on the 26-man roster.

Naturally, all players want to start and start every game. Putting ego aside is difficult for some professional athletes. Looking at the bigger picture of their careers, being able to accrue service time with the MLB club towards a pension years from now, and draw at least the MLB minimum salary of $780,000, having a bench role, temporary or permanently, has its rewards.

Wearing the Pirates’ uniform, playing in the big leagues, being compensated with an incredible salary and all the perks that go along with being idolized by many, what’s not to like about where Yorke and Gonzales are on the club’s depth chart?