Greg Bird is coming home.
No, not to his homegrown New York Yankees, but to his home state of Colorado, as the oft-injured and former fifth-round pick signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies on Thursday.
Bird, 28, went to high school in Aurora, Colorado, less than 30 miles from Coors Field. He rose through the minor league ranks with the Yankees and burst onto the scene in 2015, when the first baseman posted an .871 OPS and hit 11 home runs across 46 games. Promise quickly turned to disappointment when Bird suffered a labrum tear in his shoulder prior to the 2016 campaign, causing him to miss the entire season.
Bird returned for spring training in 2017 and looked like his 2015 self, slugging a ridiculous 1.098 across 51 at-bats. But he fouled a ball off his foot near the end of spring training, leading to foot issues that went undiagnosed until he finally had surgery to remove bone spurs in his ankle in July of that season. Bird returned down the stretch and performed well, and hit one of the Yankees’ biggest postseason home runs over the last decade, a solo shot off Andrew Miller in game three of the 2017 ALDS, helping ignite a Yankee comeback that erased an 0-2 series deficit against Cleveland.
Bird’s foot problems returned in 2018, and he batted just .199 over 82 games. He appeared in just 10 games in 2019 before he was designated for assignment in November of 2019. He signed on with the Rangers prior to the 2020 season, but never appeared in a game.
Bird will look to compete for the first base spot in Colorado, as his contract does include an invite to major league camp.
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