New York Yankees 1B Mike Ford gets emotional after making Opening Day roster

New York Yankees first baseman Mike Ford made the Opening Day Roster and celebrated with an emotional Instagram post.

New York Yankees backup first baseman Mike Ford has made the Opening Day roster and took to Instagram to celebrate the occasion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_gMudg40D/

Ford, 28, debuted for the Yankees last season and posted an impressive line of .259/.350/.559 in 50 games. The New Jersey native also slugged 12 home runs with 25 RBI, including a notable walk-off blast against the Oakland Athletics. Ford also starred at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he hit .303 with 23 homers and 60 RBIs.

More recently, Ford hit a moonshot of a game-tying home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in a Monday exhibition game. Per Statcast, the ball traveled an estimated 680 feet. This was obviously a mistake, but there’s no doubt it went further than your average home run.

Yankees 1B Mike Ford breaks Statcast record with a mammoth HR that traveled traveled 680 feet ? https://t.co/Tre0B3BkFN pic.twitter.com/VnFMIkRR7z

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 21, 2020

In a year where every decision is difficult, the Yankees made a fairly easy one in putting Ford on the team. His raw power and lefty bat are incredibly valuable in a heavily right-handed lineup, always good things to have on the bench.

But let’s put Mike Ford the player aside for a second and focus on Mike Ford the man. As he said in his post, this is an absolute dream come true. He was born and raised in New Jersey, just a stone’s throw from Yankee Stadium. Ford played high school ball at the prestigious Hun School in Princeton. He remained in Princeton for college and played for the Tigers as both a first baseman and a pitcher.

And though Ford went undrafted, the New York Yankees took a chance on him. Six years later, he’s on the MLB roster as a valuable power bat. Manager Aaron Boone also heaped high praise on his young first baseman:

Aaron Boone called Mike Ford "a really good, middle-of-the-order major-league hitter. That’s how I view him."

— Brendan Kuty (@BrendanKutyNJ) July 21, 2020

Make no mistake, Yankees fans. Luke Voit may be the starting first baseman, but Mike Ford is going to get plenty of at-bats in 2020. Boone will make sure of it.