Greg Bird Looks Good Again
Last night, Greg Bird played the hero, launching a home run off Andrew Miller for the only run of the game. For a lefty, just getting on base against Miller is a success, but going deep is pretty remarkable; it was only the second home run a left-hander hit off Miller this year.
But perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised, because since coming back off the disabled list, Bird has been hitting bombs with regularity. His overall season line of .190/.288/.422 isn’t much to write home about, but his early-season numbers came when he probably shouldn’t have been playing, given his foot issues. If we combine his post-DL with his postseason performance to date, this is the line that Healthy Greg Bird has put up in 2017.
| Bird | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Half | 98 | 0.253 | 0.316 | 0.575 | 0.365 | 128 |
| Postseason | 17 | 0.308 | 0.471 | 0.769 | 0.501 | 221 |
| Total | 115 | 0.261 | 0.339 | 0.604 | 0.385 | 142 |
The underlying numbers show significant improvement as well. In his pre-DL performance, Bird averaged 87.7 mph exit velocity on his batted balls, but since returning, that mark has jumped to 91.1 mph. For reference, only 13 hitters with at least 100 batted balls averaged 91 mph in exit velocity this year.
And in the postseason, against one of the best pitching staffs we’ve ever seen, Bird’s been crushing the ball at a level not unlike his most monstrous teammate. Here are Bird’s batted balls in this series against Cleveland so far.
| Opposing Pitcher | Exit Velocity | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Trevor Bauer | 85 | Fly Out |
| Corey Kluber | 101 | Reach on Error |
| Corey Kluber | 109 | Single |
| Mike Clevinger | 102 | Home Run |
| Andrew Miller | 72 | Line Out |
| Andrew Miller | 107 | Home Run |
Bird’s six batted balls in this series have averaged 94.4 mph, while facing the best left-handed reliever in baseball twice, a top-5 starter twice, and two above average right-handers.
As a pull-heavy left-hander who also strikes out and hits his share of infield flies, Bird is probably never going to be a high average hitter, but the power he’s shown since coming off the DL is a carrying tool, and Bird is showing why the Yankees line-up is scarier right now than their overall season numbers might make it appear.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
When he’s healthy, he hits. Just gotta stay healthy.
I thought Bird was going to be the best offensive player between him, Judge, and Sanchez. Now it looks like they’re all going to be awesome. Good times for Yankees fans, and sad times for Yankees-haters like me.
As a big believer in Bird, I thought he would develop into the second coming of John Olerud. With his injury history, he’s been more like the second coming of Nick Johnson. Hopefully his health woes are behind him.
So, if this is the case for Bird then why all the heavy speculation that the Yanks are going to go hard after Hosmer?
Because a large section of the media thinks Hosmer is a great player, and that the Yankees always fill every tiny weak spot on their roster with a big contract.
It’s not obvious to me at all that Hosmer will be a better player than Bird next year. Hosmer’s performance goes up and down (to put it euphemistically).
Perhaps that says more about the value of internet speculation – even if it’s “heavy” – than it does about Greg Bird.
Because people are silly.
I haven’t seen that. Where’s that speculation been coming from?
First, there’s always a background level of speculation that the Yankees are going to go hard after every name player, so you have to apply the Big Market Rumor discount. Second, Bird was injured for a good chunk of the season, so there were (and may continue to be) real concerns about whether the Yankees had a reliable plug for the hole at 1B. Third, it would be in Hosmer’s best interest for the other teams to believe that the Yankees are going to go hard after him, and Hosmer has an agent who looks out for his best interests, so… (Keep in mind that most of this speculation seemed to be kindled by a Buster Olney column, and while Olney seems to be a decent and legit journalist, his sources often an agenda for which he’s just a convenient mouthpiece).
It’s not likely to be the case. After all, Cashman stayed pat when he could have pursued Alonso et al at the trade deadline. They were banking on Bird to return, with Frazier/Headley splitting 1B/3B until he did so.
Well as we heard about 20 times this series, they did try to acquire Jay Bruce, not sure where he would have played though
I would be very surprised, given Bird’s finish, if the Yankees made a serious play for Hosmer. More likely, they will try to re-sign T. Frazier, which would free up Headley to back up at first (and also third and DH).
Because Bird will always be an injury risk and the likes of Headley, Frazier, and Ellsbury will likely either not be on the team next year via trade or not resigned. So there is always room.
And, of course, that line looks uncannily like the .261/.342/.529 he ran in 2015…with roughly 25% more ISO.
I’m not seeing replies on my phone.
Joey Butts–I am also not seeing replies on my computer unless I sort by “newest” so I think something is broken.
I couldn’t see either of our comments until I tried that. Even non-replies are being affected.
Same issue for me on both mobile and computer. Seems to only be impacting some, but not all of the articles for me.
Yeah, on this article I can only see the three oldest comments unless I change the sort order. Something is broken. (Personally, I don’t understand why they use that “load additional” comments script at all, even if that isn’t the root of the problem here; there are better solutions to the issue they seem to be trying to solve).