Yankees Prospect Greg Bird Wins AFL MVP Award

By Jacob Winters |

The 2014 Arizona Fall League season was a coming out party for Yankees’ first base prospect Greg Bird. He provided several highlight-reel moments (such as his 450-foot home run during the Fall Star Game) and put up eye-popping numbers. His efforts were awarded on Saturday when he was named Most Valuable Player of the entire league.

Bird opened the AFL season like a man on a mission, collecting at least one hit in each of the first 16 games. Though this was an impressive feat by itself, it was just the beginning.

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He hit .313/.391/.556 and led the league in home runs (6) and runs scored (21) while finishing second in RBIs (21), hits (31), and total bases (55). He ranked third in extra-base hits (12) and slugging percentage (.556) as well.

This isn’t his first time winning a major AFL award. Earlier in the season he was named MVP of the Fall Star Game where he went 1-for-4 (the hit was his 450-foot bomb to center field) with a walk.

Though his AFL performance has put him on the map, Bird has always been a very good prospect.

He spent the 2013 season in single-A (Charleston) and hit .288/.428/.511 with 20 home runs, 36 doubles, 107 walks, and 84 RBIs. His performance earned him a promotion to advanced single-A (Tampa) to start the 2014 season.

This past season (between advanced single-A and double-A) he hit.271/.376/.472 with 14 home runs, 30 doubles, 63 walks, and 43 RBIs. This, as well as his AFL performance, could earn him a trip to triple-A in 2015.

Bird is a very important prospect for the Yankees.

Current first baseman Mark Teixeira is both injury-prone and dealing with declining skills. His contract ends following the 2016 season, which could give Bird an opening.

Are we looking at the first baseman of the future? Quite possibly.

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