Greg Bird is flying high down in the Arizona Fall League right now. I was talking to somebody at work about him the other day and I got a weird face and a "Who is THAT?!" remark. Well, if you don't know who he is you will by the end of this article because he is definitely opening some eyes.
I love the Arizona Fall League, it is a great way to get a great seat to a ball game and pay very little for it. Oh and you get to watch players and years later you can say "HEY I knew him before he became a superstar for my team." Bird is doing some big things down in Arizona right now. Who knows, maybe he could be our next big superstar. As the resident "prospect hugger" as I have been called....I can only hope.
Bird started off hot. In his first game he hit a home run and he hasn't missed a beat since then. So far, he has played in 11 games and has hit safely in all of them. An impressive 7 of his last 16 hits have gone for extra bases and three of those were doubles. So far he has three home runs, and two of them came from the same game on October 16th. It looks like the desert southwest may agree with him! I guess it is no surprise that with a start like this he was already named the Arizona Fall League player of the week.
A lot of people may not be familiar with Bird, but he was drafted in the 5th round of the 2011 draft and is currently ranked as the Yankees 11th best prospect. He started playing for Single-A Charleston in 2013 where he hit 20 home runs. This season he split time between Single-A Advanced Tampa and AA Trenton Thunder where he hit 14 home runs in 102 games played. I bet his numbers would have been even better if he hadn't missed time early in the season due to an injury. I think the thing I like most about him is his good plate discipline. He doesn't swing at bad pitches, in 2013he lead the league in walks with more than 100. He can hit for power, but he can take a walk when needed. He just has a good eye!
So what's next for Bird? He has a ways to go before we could see him in pinstripes. Of course, the Yankees have Mark Teixeira under contract, and even then he still has another first base prospect named Kyle Roller in front of him. With talent like his though, we could see him sooner rather than later.
For the mean time, if you live in Arizona you can check him out in the Arizona Fall League playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions through November 15th if they make the championships. You can check out the complete schedule HERE. I know I will be there watching!
We leave you with this:
That will be in your head all day... You're welcome.
--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ
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