Yankees Prospect Greg Bird Wins AFL Player Of The Week

Greg Bird loves the desert. The Arizona Fall League leader in home runs and RBI was named the AFL Player of the Week according to MLB.com. Bird has been on a tear for the Scottsdale Scorpions since play started October 7th. Let’s not kid ourselves. Bird has been on a tear since his first full season with the Yankees in 2012!

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Bird is the 11th ranked prospect in the Yankees’ system, but he is truly one of the more unheralded prospects in all of baseball. The fifth round draft pick in the 2011 draft possesses a sharp glove and an even sharper eye. Bird has uncanny plate discipline for a 21-year-old, which was evidenced by his minor league baseball leading 107 walks in 2013. Bird had a rough start to the 2014 season, recovering from injury in extended spring training, but once he found his groove, he excelled at both Single and Double-A.

Bird has continued his hot hand in Arizona. This week alone he slashed .353/.421/.706 with two home runs and five RBI. That’s a 1.130 OPS for the stat-heads out there, and that is amazing for anyone. As I mentioned earlier, Bird is the AFL leader in home runs (4) and RBI (11) on the entire season as well.

I would imagine in any other system, Bird’s day in the bigs would be coming very soon. Right now, Bird is hoping to simply experience being the starting first baseman at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre next season, but with Kyle Roller in the way, that’s no guarantee. Mark Teixeira is locked up for the foreseeable future in the Bronx, and the Yankees are notorious for exhibiting patience on their young superstars. If Bird keeps mashing at his current pace, however, he may be in pinstripes sooner than he imagined.

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Yankees Prospect Greg Bird Wins AFL Player of the Week

By Wayne Cavadi | Oct 21, 2014