With the excitement over the 2019 season, one name has been forgotten amongst the New York Yankees. Now, first baseman Greg Bird has reappeared and he’s actually playing.
Greg Bird has almost reached a Jacoby Ellsbury level of anonymity. Nary a word was uttered about the New York Yankees‘ first basemen’s whereabouts until a truth bomb was dropped Tuesday afternoon.
Bird is in the Dominican Republic and not for a vacation. No, the lanky lefty is playing baseball. No, seriously. He’s actually playing baseball.
The announcement of Bird’s participation in the Dominican League came on Twitter from the Gigantes del Cibao, his team.
El inicialista Greg Bird es nuestra nueva contratación. Bird cuenta con experiencias de Grandes Ligas con los Yankees de Nueva York. #ElCibaoSomosTodos #ElCibaoEsGigante pic.twitter.com/vH3MUY7ixb
— Gigantes del Cibao ® (@Gigantes_Cibao) October 22, 2019
This is the first time that Yankees fans have seen Greg Bird since April 13, his last game in pinstripes. So it’s only right that they’d be shocked to see Bird sporting some impressive flow underneath his hat.
But back to the real shocker at hand; Greg Bird is still playing baseball.
In his two games so far, he’s collected one hit, a bloop single into center field. Overall, however, it looks as though Bird is seeing the ball fairly well for spending so much time away from the game.
Bird’s career has been littered with injuries, the most recent being a left plantar fascia tear that kept him out for almost the entirety of the 2019 season. Right now, it doesn’t look like that specific injury is slowing him down in the field.
Bird has been playing first base and making some pretty impressive snags.
The first baseman expects to be in the Dominican Republic for “about a month” with plans to keep hitting and playing first base according to Dan Martin of the New York Post.
Here we go again, letting Greg Bird give everyone hope before it ultimately comes crashing down with yet another injured list stint. Or maybe this time is different. At least that’s what we’ll tell ourselves.
Enjoy it while it lasts because we don’t know when this Bird will fly the coop again.
