Bird looks to get back in the hunt

TAMPA — Things are settling in for Greg Bird, and his manager is noticing. The first baseman whose young career has been slowed by injuries and struggles, came to camp healthy, with 20 pounds of added muscle.

After losing his job to Luke Voit last season and being put on notice that he was the underdog to get that spot back, Bird has caught the attention of his manager. Thursday, he did it by knocking a home run off Masahiro Tanaka in a simulated game and then knocking an opposite-field single off James Paxton.

“The one thing about Greg, even last year when he was struggling at his most, he controls the strike zone and in his first at-bats today, live, that was apparent,” Boone said. “Then we saw him impact that ball as well. So good at-bats from him, which is frankly a continuation of what we’ve been seeing the first couple of weeks.”

Still, Bird knows where he stands.

He has an uphill battle to unseat Voit as the starting first baseman. Bird slashed .199/.286/.386 with 11 homers and 38 RBI in 82 games last season and was left off the postseason roster. Voit, 28, hit .333 with a 1.095 OPS with 14 homers in the regular season after stealing the job from Bird in late August.

Bird has had a slew of injuries through his short career. He missed all of 2016 recovering from shoulder surgery, played just 48 games in 2017 because of a bone bruise on his right ankle and didn’t make his 2018 season debut until May 26 after surgery on the right ankle.

So, Bird understands that he has a lot to prove. Thursday was just a start.

“It’s a step in the right direction. I just want to play. I know I’ve got to play, we can talk all day ... but I’ve got to play. So, that’s one step closer to playing,” Bird said.