Mandatory Credit: © Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports \ ©Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
MEXICO — The bird is back. Greg Bird, once a promising talent for the New York Yankees, has embarked on a new chapter in his career. The 31-year-old is taking a swing at redemption in the Mexican League with the Charros de Jalisco.
Bird had previously been with the Melbourne Aces in the Australian League after not playing in affiliated baseball in 2023. He used the time to get his body and his mind right. It worked like a charm. Bird enjoyed a successful overseas campaign slashing, .277/.348/.539 with 11 homers and 40 RBI in 161 plate appearances.
“Out here, I think it’s a good mix,” Bird told The Athletic last season. “I can get the reps and the feeling of playing, but I can also build my body to get ready to break it down come spring.”
The one-time prospect was thought of as the Yankees’ solution at first base but wasn’t able to stay healthy. Bird made his big league debut in 2015, stepping in as the club’s everyday first baseman after Mark Teixeira fractured his shin. He showed promise in his rookie season – slashing .261 with 11 homers.
But staying healthy was a problem. Bird missed all of 2016 due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder. In 2017, he fouled a ball off his foot in spring training and needed surgery to remove his os trigonum, limiting him to just 48 games. In 2018, he needed a bone spur removed from his right ankle and lost his starting job to Luke Voit. He played just 10 games in 2019 and on Nov. 20 of that year, the Yankees released him. It would be his last season in the majors.
“The stuff that was going on was just — you’re supposed to be this big bad professional athlete, but I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do, straight up. I was dealing with mental stuff, physical stuff and I think it just compounded. It was just one thing after the other. Whether it’s right or wrong, I just got beat up by it.”
Bird knows he won’t relive his past. But what he can do is make a reassurance.
Now playing in the Mexican League, the 31-year-old should have the opportunity to prove himself healthy and perhaps earn another shot in affiliated ball. Bird is the third player to sign in Mexico this year, following former All-Star Robinson Cano and the utility player Harold Castro.
