Sweeny: Bird Is Again The Word At First Base For Yankees
By Sweeny Murti
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TAMPA, Fla. (WFAN) -- Here's the scary part about Greg Bird's spectacular 2015 debut with the Yankees. He knew all along that this shoulder wasn't right.
So when you ask him if he feels like he did before last February's surgery on the torn labrum in his left shoulder, Bird tells you something that makes your ears perk up.
"I feel better in a lot of ways," Bird said after an early morning round of batting practice Monday at Steinbrenner Field. "And I think that it'll continue to get better as I get more and more used to just playing every day."
Better than his 11 home runs and .871 OPS in 46 games two years ago? Yes, better.
"I have more control I feel like," Bird explained. "(The shoulder) feels more in place, if that makes sense. Probably things that I notice that you wouldn't even be able to tell if you watch me hit."
Bird suffered his shoulder injury early in the 2015 minor league season, spent some time rehabbing and returned to the field. Injuries hit the Yankees in a pennant race and they called Bird up in August. In his fifth major league game, Bird showed off his sweet lefty swing by hitting his first two career home runs in a 4-3 win over the Twins at Yankee Stadium. He slugged nine more home runs in September and was the Yankees starting first baseman in the AL Wild Card Game loss to the Astros.
And he did all of that with a shoulder that rehab couldn't quite fix and needed surgery four months after the season ended.
"It was not structurally right," Bird said. "So there were just things that I felt like I kind of had to overcome and kind of learn to hit with that year. Because early on in the year I was getting frustrated just with the feeling I had.
"Hitting is a big feel thing for me and I couldn't feel what I normally wanted to feel. I figured out how to work through that. Now I'm back to where I wanted to be. I can feel what I want to feel."
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Bird's throwing ability was hampered then, too, but now he says that difference is like night and day also.
"It feels like I have something behind the ball," Bird said.
But the batting stroke is what Yankees fans are excited to see. And it looks pretty good in BP here. Bird has deposited a few souvenirs over the right field fence in the first two days of full-squad workouts leading up to Friday's exhibition opener. He certainly hasn't forgotten that he's coming off surgery. He just knows it's a better feeling now that the problem has been repaired.
"I think it's something I monitor and that's normal," Bird said. "When you have a surgery you're always monitoring. Today I just got in the box and thought about what I needed to think about. And I think that's huge -- being confident in the shoulder every day, coming to the park confident in the shoulder."
Last spring, Bird was in the same clubhouse, but he was on a different program than everyone else. That experience of not playing a game the entire season is one he wants to put behind him.
"Frustrating, disappointing," Bird said when asked to describe his 2016 season. "But that's the hand I was dealt and I had to get better. So, good lesson for me, tough experience. But I'm enjoying being back and being part of spring (training) this time and being able to play."
With some concern about the pace of his recovery, the Yankees added some veteran insurance by signing Chris Carter. The righty-hitting first baseman slammed a National League-high 41 home runs last year with Milwaukee and was brought on board to platoon with Bird as he gets his legs back under him. Bird said he sees Carter only as a teammate, not a roadblock.
"I have to prove that I'm healthy and get used to playing again, so I have enough on my plate," Bird said. "I'm fighting to prove that I'm healthy and I can play. I'm not fighting against anyone in particular. I'm just trying to play, and play at a high level again and get better every day and become the best possible player that I can be."
And that, he thinks, is better than what we've already seen.
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