Gregory Paul Bird is an American professional baseball first baseman for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball.
Education
Bird attended Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado. He finished the season playing in four games, going 1 for 12. He finished the season hitting.337/.450/.494 with two home runs.
He finished the season, hitting.288/.428/.511 with 20 home runs and a minor league leading 107 walks.
Career
He made his MLB debut on August 13, 2015. He committed to attend the University of Arkansas to play college baseball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Bird was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft.
Bird signed with the Yankees, receiving a $1.1 million signing bonus and bypassing his commitment to Arkansas.
He was drafted as a catcher but was moved to first base. Bird made his professional debut for the Gulf Coast Yankees in 2011.
In 2012, he played in only 28 games due to injuries. Bird started the 2013 season with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League.
In 2014, Bird began the season with the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, where he batted.277 with seven home runs and 32 runs batted in before he was promoted tor the Trenton Thunder of the Class Associate of Arts Eastern League, where he batted for a.253/.379/.558 triple slash to go along with 7 homers and 11 Reserve Bank of India to create a full season equaling.271/.376/.472 slash line, 14 homers, and 43 Reserve Bank of India in 102 games.
After the season, the Yankees assigned Bird to the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League (American Federation of Labor-Congress). He hit a 450-foot (140 m) home run during the American Federation of Labor-Congress Fall Stars Game. Bird led the American Federation of Labor-Congress with six home runs was named the American Federation of Labor-Congress Most Valuable Player.
Bird started the 2015 season with Trenton and was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class American Automobile Association International League during the season.
In May, he experienced a shoulder injury. On August 13, 2015, the Yankees announced they would promote Bird to the major leagues to backup Mark Teixeira at first base and Alex Rodriguez at designated hitter.
He made his major league debut that night, going 0-5. He collected his first hit on August 15.
Teixeira injured his leg on August 17, which was later diagnosed as a fracture, ending his season, as Bird became the Yankees" starting first baseman.
On August 19, Bird hit his first two MLB home runs. On September 7, Bird hit a go-ahead 3-run home run in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Teixeira went down with a season ending leg injury, promoting Bird to the starting first base position.
On September 22, Bird hit a game winning three-run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the top of the tenth inning.
He finished the season with a.261 batting average, with 11 home runs, 31 RBIs and a.343 on-base percentage. Bird suffered a recurrence of his right shoulder injury during the 2015-2016 offseason, which was diagnosed as a torn labrum.
Bird underwent successful surgery and hopes to be back next season. Bird was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
His family moved to Colorado when he was ten years old.