BUM ANKLE LANDS BIRD ON DISABLED LIST:

GREG BIRD is hoping to rediscover his sweet swing from the spring after a stint on the shelf.

The Yankees placed the struggling 24-year-old first baseman on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with a bruised right ankle. Bird will not participate in baseball activities for the next week to 10 days before the team figures out how to proceed. The injury will require rest, and perhaps a brief stint in a walking boot.

“I love playing, and I wanted to try and go out and play,” Bird said. “I tried to get through it as best as I could, but it’s frustrating. I definitely think I’m better than what I’ve shown. The idea for me is obviously we have a good team and I think we have a chance to go really far into the season so get it right now, and be ready to go for the long haul.”

After missing all of last season due to shoulder surgery, Bird is just 6-for-60 at the plate for a .100/.250/.450 batting line with one homer and three RBI.

“I just didn’t feel like there was a lot of explosion in his lower half,” Joe Girardi said. “We talked after the game and we felt that we just need to give this some time. A bone bruise can take months and months to heal. Players deal with them all the time. He just felt like his ankle wasn’t working properly. Yesterday was the first day I really, really noticed.”

Bird initially suffered the injury on March 30 when he fouled a ball off his ankle during the team’s final Grapefruit League game in Clearwater, Fla. He had

two hits the following night in Atlanta — including a homer — but has struggled to show the same productivity during the regular season. Bird had produced eight homers and 15 RBI along with a .451/.556/1.098 batting line during the spring.

Bird has tried to play through the injury with no regrets, but has been unable to do so successfully. He underwent two MRIs — one after the team’s first road series in Baltimore in early April and one Tuesday — which both showed the bone bruise. Various treatment methods have not worked as planned, though Bird did say his foot does feel better from where it was earlier in the season.

Mark Teixeira had been diagnosed with a bone bruise in his right leg after he fouled a ball off of it in August 2015 before it was eventually determined that he had actually had suffered a season-ending fracture.

“We’re pretty confident there are not any breaks,” Girardi said. “But bone bruises, they’re tricky. As I said they can last months. Because of what I saw yesterday, before I even went into the training room because I came here first, I just thought he looked different. And he’s on the DL.”

Chris Carter figures to spell Bird the majority of time he’s out, while regular DH Matt Holliday also has some experience playing first.