The Yankees have first base covered

Greg Bird was supposed to be the Yankees starting first baseman this year, but he got injured again toward the end of spring training. The club had already parted ways with Plans B and C, trading Chase Headley to San Diego and allowing free agent Todd Frazier to sign with the Mets in cost-cutting moves. That left 26-year-old prospect Tyler Austin and newly-signed veteran Neil Walker to man first base, with Bird expected to miss up to two months recovering from surgery on his ankle.

Austin made a big splash during his major-league debut back in August of 2016. Along with Aaron Judge, the pair became the first players in baseball history to hit back-to-back home runs in their first MLB plate appearances. Like Bird, Austin endured injuries, and consequently entered the 2018 season with his rookie status intact.

The 32-year-old Walker compiled 1,008 games at second base heading into this season, while appearing in 20 at third and only 17 at first. Still, he had a reputation as a solid defender, and the Yankees needed the depth as they planned to go with unproven rookies at the keystone and hot corner and the injury-prone Bird at first. The switch-hitting Walker carried a .778 OPS into 2018, and had averaged 16 home runs per year over the previous eight seasons.

The Yankees couldn’t have wished for better play from Walker and Austin thus far. The pair have combined to make only two errors at first base, the fewest among the Yankees infield positions. It’s not just the plays that are scored as errors, either. We’ve seen plenty of miscues by Yankees fielders this season that were scored as hits, even though the out should have been made. I can’t think of one of those occurring at first base. Austin and Walker have made all the scoops and all the plays. They’ve been flat out superb manning the position.

Nearly perfect defense is great, but first base is a premium offensive position. Walker and Austin have delivered there as well. The Yankees are among the league leaders in runs produced (R + RBI - HR) by first basemen:

New York’s first-base duo has produced only seven fewer runs than their counterparts on the league-leading Red Sox and Tigers, despite enjoying fewer plate appearances. The Bomber’s offensive production from first base is also miles ahead of where it was at this point last season:

First base continued to be a black hole in the Yankees lineup throughout the 2017 season. The team finished 26th in MLB for both runs produced and runs created (RC) by first basemen. Hopefully, the success of Austin and Walker so far this year augurs well for the club moving forward.

On Sunday, Austin had his second multi-homer game of the 2018 campaign, swatting a pair of two-run bombs against the Royals in Kansas City. The blasts gave him eight home runs and 23 RBIs on the year, which leads all AL rookies. Moreover, he’s accomplished this in only 97 at-bats.

Austin’s power looks legit, too. According to Statcast, his first longball during Sunday’s win traveled 440 feet with an exit velocity of 111 MPH. With that shot, Austin has now homered five times this season with an exit velocity of 110 MPH or higher, tying him with teammates Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton for the third most such home runs in MLB.

Understandably, Walker got off to a cool start at the plate this year after missing most of spring training. He’s been hot of late, though. Since May 1st, Walker has slashed .333/.487/.433 with five RBIs and nine runs scored over 39 plate appearances while platooning at first base.

Walker mashed last night as well, during his first start for the Yankees at the hot corner. He doubled home New York’s first run of the game in the second inning, then scored on Gleyber’s two-run blast. Walker added a solo shot in the fourth, his first home run as a Yankee.

During the club’s recent eight-game winning streak, it seemed that Walker was in the middle of nearly every late-inning rally. He got one big hit after another, scoring and driving in critical runs that helped fuel New York’s numerous comeback victories.

Depth is a great thing to have, until you’re forced to use it. So the old baseball cliche goes. The Yankees have legitimate depth at first base, and it’s been a critical component of the team’s success this season.

Greg Bird has begun minor-league rehab games and will possibly return to the big-league roster within the next week. We don’t know how well he will perform, or how long he will stay healthy. We do know that the Yankees have first base covered. They possess a valuable asset in the versatile Walker, and they may very well have another rising star in Austin.