ATLANTA (AP) Oft-injured New York Yankees first baseman Greg Bird will have surgery to remove a small broken spur on the outside of his right ankle and will be sidelined until late May.
Dr. Martin O’Malley is to operate Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. The Yankees said Bird is expected to return to game action in six-to-eight weeks.
The Yankees open the season Thursday at Toronto. Tyler Austin, who had been slated to start the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, could see time at first in Bird’s absence. Neil Walker also could shift over from second base to first.
The 25-year-old Bird has been promising yet perplexing since his big league debut in 2015, when he came up from the minors and had 11 homers and 31 RBIs in 46 games.
He missed 2016 after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Bird hit .451 with eight homers in spring training last year but fouled a ball off his right ankle on March 30, started the season 6 for 60 and went on the disabled list May 2. When the foot did not improve, O’Malley operated July 18 to remove the os trigonum bone in the ankle.
Bird returned Aug. 26 and hit .253 with eight homers and 25 RBIs in 29 games, then batted .241 three homers and six RBIs in 13 playoff games.
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