Which Yankees Prospects will Wear Pinstripes in April?
By Cory Claus
Greg Bird and Chris Carter
The Yankees have seen the first base position become less productive over the last few years. And, now that Mark Teixeira has moved on, this spot is completely up for grabs. Both candidates came into camp with power potential, but both candidates also entered into camp with serious question marks.
Greg Bird had been moving through the Yankees system and their prospect rankings for a couple of years. And he fulfilled the promise when he debuted in 2015, slashing .261/.343/.529 with eleven home runs in 46 games. The only question at the end of 2015 was whether he would push Teixeira off the first-base bag in 2016.
It never came to that. Bird hurt his wing (I know but I am too young to have covered Larry Bird, and this word play is just too good to wait for another avian) and missed all of 2016. That year off could have eroded his skills. And he did not exactly reassure the Yankees in the Arizona Fall League, hitting just .215. He had to come into camp and show he was some semblance of the player the Yankees saw in 2015.
Second choice at First Base
Chris Carter does one thing well: hit home runs. He led the National League in HR’s in 2016 (41); if you are only going to do one thing well, there are worse things than hitting homers. The problem for Chris is that one thing is the only thing he does well in baseball.
He’s a defensive liability at any position, and no one knows if he can DH. But, when your starting first baseman retires and the heir apparent might need time to find his swing in Pennsylvania, there are worse options than signing a power hitting insurance policy.
Bronx Bound
They might both be, but Bird definitely is. Readers of this column already knew it was likely to go down this way from an article we published some time ago, but Bird has done a lot more than show his shoulder is doing fine. In fact, he looks better than he did in 2015.
Yankees fans, prepare yourself. I am about to give his numbers and I want you to try not to fan-gasm: it is still just spring training. His AVG/OBP/OPS slash line is impressive enough at .389/.476/1.476. But it is the damage; he has done in only 18 at-bats that jumps off the stats sheet. He has seven hits, three home runs, two doubles, four runs scored and 5 RBI’s. The Bird will soar in the Bronx (sorry but I just cannot waste literary gold like that).
So, with all that said, it probably never mattered what Chris Carter did. This competition was over the day Greg Bird was born. That does not mean, however, that Carter will not wear pinstripes in a couple of weeks. His power gives him value and the Yankees are thinking they might want him against some of the toughest lefty pitchers this side of the Pecos.
It seems likely that Carter will be on the Yankees in the Spring. But, if Bird shows he can hit those self-same lefties as I suspect he will, Carter will wear a different uniform by Summer.