The New York Yankees have announced first baseman Greg Bird will undergo surgery tomorrow to repair a right labrum tear. The 23-year-old will miss the entire 2016 season.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post was the first to report the news. He also said Dr. David Altchek will perform Bird's procedure on Tuesday at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery.
1B Greg Bird will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair a right shoulder labrum tear and will miss the 2016 season.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 1, 2016
I have learned Greg Bird is going to miss all of the 2016 season. Going for shoulder surgery tomorrow #Yankees
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) February 1, 2016
Bird injured his shoulder last year and missed some time when he was in the minors, but Sherman said the slugger felt discomfort again this offseason and was diagnosed with a torn labrum.
Chad Jennings of the Lohud Yankees Blog said Bird had a check-up on his shoulder back in October, but two doctors did not reccomend surgery. The injury is believed to have flared up within the past 10 days.
The former top prospect wasn't expected to start the 2016 season on the MLB roster due to the presence of Mark Teixeira for one more year, but this is still a huge disadvantage for both parties, as Bird was slated to take over at first base on a full-time basis in 2017. Bird was also expected to be available in the event Teixeira were to go down with an injury (the veteran has played in only 249 games over the past three seasons).
Bird filled in for Tex last year and batted .261/.343/.529 with 26 runs scored, 11 home runs and 31 RBI in 46 games and made only one error during his 379-2/3 innings at first base. His MLB debut came after only 46 games at Triple-A.
He exceeded his rookie limits in 2015 because he accumulated at least 130 at-bats during his 53 days of MLB service.
Bird was likely going to re-join the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at the onset of 2016, but the former fifth-round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft will now spend the season recovering from his shoulder injury.
