Yankees: Luke Voit can be the everyday first baseman moving forward

We’re now under two weeks away from the Yankees beginning their 2019 campaign and the race for first base is heated with both Luke Voit and Greg Bird fighting for the top spot.

Back in late January, I had written a piece detailing why Voit should be given the nod come opening day. Fast forward until now, he may have done enough thus far to grant him that position. This Spring Training has been a fun one for the Yankees. There have been bat-flips, crushed baseballs and nasty pitching from pinstriped players. Even more, there has been a sense of competition with every player on this roster, with first base being the most heated.

According to Dan Martin of the New York Post, manager Aaron Boone doesn’t see it as a competition. But he can see the profit of having both Voit and Greg Bird being successful in Spring Training.

“I don’t even know, in my mind, if I look at it as a competition,’’ Boone said. “The hard part about it, for me, is inevitably if we go one way or another is I feel so good about both guys. I feel like we’re looking at two impact players. But we’re not there yet. I’m just excited both guys are in such a good place.’’

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With that being said, looking at the numbers, Bird has the advantage over Voit. He has a higher batting average, fewer strikeouts and more hits from the plate. But Voit is still the best option to man first base. Voit has shown a bit more power than Bird from the plate with two home runs. As well, Voit has the same amount of runs as Bird with four.

And although the two have the same fielding percentage of perfect, Voit has seen more time and had more putouts on the bag. He has had 50 innings of work and 46 putouts at first this spring.

These two duking it out to get the starting job definitely won’t be decided until opening day. The Spring Training numbers, although relatively small, combined with the efforts both players put in last season, paint a bigger picture.

Boone has also gone on to describe his ideal lineups come March 28 and beyond, and Voit has been mentioned between third and sixth in the order. It seems that the Yankees front office is more comfortable with Voit at first.

Unfortunately for Bird, this means he must start the 2019 season in the minors at Triple-A. If Voit has a lackluster start, you can expect the swap will be made but it will be a bit into the season.

A lot can happen in two weeks, but the result should remain the same. Luke Voit should be the starting first baseman for the 2019 season.