Yankees lineup: What will it look like throughout the season?

Didi Gregorius

In other words, Sir Didi could have hit 30 long balls on the season if it wasn’t for the injury he suffered in the WBC.

Throw in the fact that Gregorius is a lefty and led the Yankees in both overall batting average and batting average with RISP; it becomes more evident why this spot should go to Gregorius.

However, Gregorius does have a significant challenger. Gregorius’ competitor is last year’s opening day No. 3 hole starter Greg Bird.

It is hard to remember that less than a year ago Bird was seen as the Yankees’ best power hitter.

His sweet stroke that Brian Cashman had called the best in the Yanks’ system, combined with his monstrous Spring Training in ’17 gave him that spot to open the year.

After coming back from injury, Bird put up a .253/.316/.575 slash line that was consistent with the .261/.343/.529 line that he put up in his 2015 cameo with the club.

Once Bird knocked off the rust, he hit a home run once every 10.875 at-bats. If you project that over a 500 at-bat season, that’s 46 home runs. If you consider his .981 OPS in the 2017 playoffs, a healthy Bird could force his way into the three-hole.