Fantasy Baseball: 5 Late-Round Hitters With Power Upside
5. Greg Bird, New York Yankees
NFBC ADP: 242.99 | 2015 Hard-Hit Rate: 44.8% | 2015 Fly-Ball Rate: 51.4%
Any left-handed batter who plays at Yankee Stadium should be on our wish list. When they're 24 and hit like a mad man their first forray in the majors, that's just icing on the cake.
Greg Bird brings mountains of Gucciness to the table after he mashed as a rookie back in 2015. In 178 plate appearances, Bird launched 11 dingers thanks to his 44.8% hard-hit rate and 51.4% fly-ball rate. However, a shoulder injury held him out all of last season, justifying the skepticism baked into his ADP.
Bird did get some playing time under his belt during the Arizona Fall League last October, and the results weren't terrible. Although Bird's slash was just .215/.346/.354, he managed to walk in 15.4% of his plate appearances while striking out 21.8% of the time. This was his first action in a year, so you'd expect struggles elsewhere, but the plate-discipline stats are encouraging.
Bird had been scheduled to fight with Tyler Austin, Chris Carter, and Matt Holliday for time between first base and designated hitter, but that competition got a bit thinner on Friday.
Yankees first baseman Tyler Austin breaks his foot, out six weeks https://t.co/X9o0CDZR9T pic.twitter.com/NimNEVwBWo
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 17, 2017
While Austin's injury is unfortunate, it does provide an easier path to playing time for Bird. Questions persist from Bird's year off, but this is a saucy hitter with tremendous upside who appears to be worth the risk.
