Yankees: First base battle between Luke Voit and Greg Bird is already heating up

The battle for the starting first base job at Yankees camp is already heating up between Luke Voit and Greg Bird, just two games into Spring Training.

Throughout the offseason, both Aaron Boone and Yankees GM Brian Cashman let it be known that Voit has the leg up on Bird in the competition to win the job. Voit has earned that right and it’s no surprise considering how great he was down the stretch last year and how poorly Bird played throughout the entire season.

Bird faces an uphill climb against Voit, but in the Yankees first game of the spring in Fort Myers against the Red Sox on Saturday, he went 2 for 2 to start off Grapefruit League play. His first at-bat he laced a high fastball for a double high off the wall in left field and in his second at-bat he lined a sharp single to right.

It was a good start for Bird in what has to be the most important Spring Training of his young career thus far. With the loser of this competition likely to be sent to Triple-A to start the season the pressure is on Bird to be at the top of his game all spring. Even though it was just one game Bird definitely looks healthier than he has in the past because he finally had an offseason where he didn’t have to rehab any injuries.

The ankle injury that’s sidelined him for long periods of time the past two seasons is fully healed and now Bird is able to get his front foot down early at the plate and really impact the baseball. That could pay huge dividends for Bird because over the past couple years he hasn’t been able to really dig in with that front foot. Because of that, he’s been late on everything and unable to catch up to fastballs up in the zone.

As impressive as Bird was in his spring training debut on Saturday Voit completely one-upped him with his performance on Sunday against the Rays. In his first at-bat, he had a line drive RBI single to right field to open up the scoring for the Yanks. He popped up his second time but in his next at-bat, he blasted a three-run bomb over the left-center field wall to give the Yankees a 6-0 lead. He finished the day 2 for 3 with 4 RBI.

Voit knows the pressure is on him to perform this spring not just to win the job but also to prove to everyone that last season was no fluke. I don’t think anyone who watched him tear up the league last August and September actually thinks it was but he could use that as extra motivation.

Even though whoever hits the most is probably going to win the job each player’s defense will be factored into the decision making as well. Neither one is Mark Teixeira defensively but between the two of them, Bird has the slight edge with the glove according to Boone. Voit struggled defensively with the Yanks last season and he knows it’s something he has to improve if he’s going to be the everyday first basemen.

Here’s Voit on his defense, per George King III of the New York Post:

"“My goal this year is to make my defense night and day,” Voit said. “I want to win a Gold Glove, that’s kind of my mindset.”"

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Voit certainly has the right mindset and definitely put the work in this offseason because Boone has already said he’s seen him make some big strides. If that continues he could really run away with the job because based on how he started his spring with the bat on Sunday you know he’s going to continue to hit.

As for Bird he just needs to continue what he’s doing because whatever Voit does from here until the end of camp is out of his control. He’s the clear underdog in this race, but if there’s one thing he has going for him it’s that he’s a power left-handed hitter which is something this lineup is lacking with the absence of Didi Gregorius.

Whether that could give Bird an edge remains to be seen, but it’s something to consider if the competition continues to be as tightly contested as it’s started off.