Greg Bird (baseball)

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Greg Bird
250px
Bird with the New York Yankees on August 22, 2015.
New York Yankees – No. 33
First baseman
Born: (1992-11-09) November 9, 1992 (age 32)
Memphis, Tennessee
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 13, 2015, for the New York Yankees
MLB statistics
(through 2015 season)
Batting average .261
Home runs 11
Run batted in 31
Hits 41
On-base percentage .343
Slugging percentage .529
Teams

Gregory Paul Bird (born November 9, 1992) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut on August 13, 2015.

Career

Bird attended Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado with his teammate Kevin Gausman who later plays for the Baltimore Orioles. Playing for the school's baseball team, Bird was named the Colorado Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year as a senior.[1][2][3] He committed to attend the University of Arkansas to play college baseball for the Arkansas Razorbacks.[4]

Bird was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft.[5] Bird signed with the Yankees, receiving a $1.1 million signing bonus and bypassing his commitment to Arkansas.[4] He was drafted as a catcher but was moved to first base.[6]

Bird made his professional debut for the Gulf Coast Yankees in 2011. He finished the season playing in four games, going 1 for 12. In 2012, he played in only 28 games due to injuries. He finished the season hitting .337/.450/.494 with two home runs. Bird started the 2013 season with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League.[7] He finished the season, hitting .288/.428/.511 with 20 home runs and a minor league leading 107 walks. He won the Kevin Lawn Award as the Yankees Minor League Player of the Year.[8][9]

In 2014, Bird began the season with the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, where he batted .277 with seven home runs and 32 runs batted in before he was promoted tor the Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League,[10] where he batted for a .253/.379/.558 triple slash to go along with 7 homers and 11 RBI to create a full season equaling .271/.376/.472 slash line, 14 homers, and 43 RBI in 102 games.[11] After the season, the Yankees assigned Bird to the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League (AFL). He hit a 450-foot (140 m) home run during the AFL Fall Stars Game. Bird led the AFL with six home runs was named the AFL Most Valuable Player.[12]

Bird started the 2015 season with Trenton and was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League during the season.[13] In May, he experienced a shoulder injury.[14] On August 13, 2015, the Yankees announced they would promote Bird to the major leagues to backup Mark Teixeira at first base and Alex Rodriguez at designated hitter.[13] He made his major league debut that night, going 0-5.[15] He collected his first hit on August 15.[16] Teixeira injured his leg on August 17, which was later diagnosed as a fracture, ending his season, as Bird became the Yankees' starting first baseman.[17]

On August 19, Bird hit his first two MLB home runs.[18] On September 7, Bird hit a go-ahead 3-run home run in a game against the Baltimore Orioles.[19] Teixeira went down with a season ending leg injury, promoting Bird to the starting first base position.[20] On September 22, Bird hit a game winning three-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the top of the tenth inning. He finished the season with a .261 batting average, with 11 home runs, 31 RBIs and a .343 on-base percentage.

Bird suffered a recurrence of his right shoulder injury during the 2015-16 offseason, which was diagnosed as a torn labrum. Bird underwent successful surgery, but will miss the entire 2016 season.

Personal life

Bird was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His family moved to Colorado when he was ten years old.[21][22]

References

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External links

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  14. ↑ http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14691950/new-york-yankees-1b-greg-bird-suffers-shoulder-injury-miss-season
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  19. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/sports/baseball/greg-birds-home-run-lifts-yankees-over-orioles.html?_r=0
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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