New York Yankees: Who's On First for the 2017 Season?

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The New York Yankees know who they would like to see emerge as their starting first baseman this year, but several players could end up making appearances at the position in 2017.

If the New York Yankees are indeed finished making offseason moves, as general manager Brian Cashman has suggested, virtually every position on the field is accounted for, at least for Opening Day. However, there are still plenty of questions surrounding first base, questions the team will look to answer this spring.

With the retirement of Mark Teixeira, the starting first base job is open, and while the Yankees have a good idea of who they want to fill the void, there is no telling how things will work out. Whoever starts at first to begin the season might not stay there throughout the entire year, and the club has implied that it will embrace competition to fill the role.

Before his last several injury-riddled campaigns, Teixeira was about as reliable a first baseman as you could find, armed with a potent bat and a steady glove. But mounting health issues and declining play quickly turned him into a liability, and last season he slashed a paltry .204/.292/.362 with 15 home runs and 44 RBI in 116 games. His frustrations compelled him to call it quits at the end of the year at age 36 after 14 major league seasons.

Brian McCann might have received his fair share of playing time at first this season, particularly after the amazing breakout of Gary Sanchez at catcher, but he was shipped off to the Astros earlier in the offseason. The Yanks will hope that whichever first baseman (or combination of first basemen) they settle on this year will give them more than what they got from Teixeira last year. That likely won’t be too difficult, but with other question marks in the lineup, the team could really use a consistent producer at the position.

So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the candidates to man first base for the Bronx Bombers in 2017.

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Greg Bird

Greg Bird is the favorite to start games at first for the New York Yankees this season, both among fans and within the organization itself. In fact, he probably would have taken the reins from Teixeira at some point last year had he not missed the entire season due to shoulder surgery.

24-year-old Bird is part of the group of young players the Yankees hope will develop into their new core for years to come. He impressed in limited action at the end of the 2015 campaign, slashing .261/.343/.529 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI over 178 plate appearances. He flashed legitimate power, and it’s hard to blame Yankees fans for getting excited about the prospect of the lefty-hitting Bird swatting plenty of homers to Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch.

However, the injury that erased his 2016 also brings uncertainty over into the new year. Will Bird physically be ready to carry the load for 140+ games this season as the starting first baseman? He did get some action in during the Arizona Fall League, though he showed considerable signs of rust with a .215/.346/.354 slash line, one home run and 10 RBI in 17 games. That wasn’t unexpected, but the Yanks will hope to see marked improvement during Spring Training.

For what it’s worth, Bird says he feels “surprisingly good” as he works his way back from surgery, and the Yankees will take encouragement in that. Bird panning out as the starting first baseman would be the ideal scenario for the Yankees both in 2017 and the long-term future. Vintage Mark Teixeira might be a bit too much to ask for, but Bird has the tools to combine power, on-base ability (career .395 OBP in minors) and solid defense.

Knowing they can confidently pencil in Greg Bird at first base for the foreseeable future would be a significant coup for the Yankees’ rebuilding plan.

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Tyler Austin

Keeping the focus on youth, the Yankees have also indicated that they will give Tyler Austin the opportunity to push for playing time at first base. He didn’t quite set the world on fire after his late-season call-up last season, slashing .241/.300/.458 with five homers and 12 RBI over 90 plate appearances. However, he did have some memorable moments, not the least of which was going back-to-back with teammate Aaron Judge on their first career major league home runs on August 13. Talk about an entrance.

The Yanks really like Austin and believe that he can develop into a good player for them. He will enter next season at 25 years old, so he’s still got plenty of room to grow. Austin was tearing up the Triple-A level last year before being promoted, slashing .323/.415/.637 with 13 home runs and 49 RBI in 57 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. If he can translate some of that to the big leagues over the course of a full season, the Yankees would have to be more than pleased.

Austin did appear to being heating up just as the 2016 campaign was ending, going six for his last 12 with a pair of homers over his final five games. He also mashed against lefties (.348/.444/.652) while struggling against righties (.200/.238/.383). It’s a small sample size, but it could inform how the Yankees plan to use him next season.

Austin’s positional versatility will also give the team more options. Aside from first base, he also has experience in the outfield. If Bird falls flat on his face, Austin can get more chances at first. Likewise, if Judge’s struggles from last season continue into the new one, Austin can supplement him in right field. The aging legs of Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury might need more days off as well.

Any way you slice it, if Tyler Austin is hitting, the Yankees will have a variety of ways to get him into the lineup.

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Matt Holliday

Matt Holliday has only made 10 appearances at first base during his 13-year major league career. (All came last year during his final season with the St. Louis Cardinals.) However, after signing him to a one-year deal to serve as their veteran DH, the Yankees suggested that Holliday could see some time at first next season if necessary.

It’s not an ideal scenario, as Holliday has been almost exclusively an outfielder as a big leaguer. Due to turn 37 years old this month, the chances of him making a seamless transition to first baseman are slim. The Yanks wouldn’t expect him to wield a great glove there, however. Like the other options on this list, their willingness to put him at first will largely depend on how well he is performing at the plate.

Holliday showed definite signs of decline in 2016, slashing .246/.322/.461, though he did manage 20 home runs and 62 RBI in 110 games. The Yankees feel confident he can bounce back a bit this year. They are particularly encouraged by the fact that he ranked third last season with a 94.7 mph average exit velocity off the bat, behind only Nelson Cruz (95.9 mph) and Giancarlo Stanton (95.1 mph). Drop him in an extreme hitter’s environment like Yankee Stadium, and perhaps some good things will happen.

If the Yankees can play Holliday at first base for a game here and there, it will only multiply the amount of lineup configurations they can use. They might want to put Gary Sanchez at DH on days he’s not catching, and moving Holliday over to first would help facilitate that more easily. Manager Joe Girardi usually gives veterans a pretty long leash, so Holliday will get plenty of time to prove he’s still got it. Whether playing him at first base is a last resort or becomes a viable option will likely depend on injuries and individual performances.

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Rob Refsnyder

Where Rob Refsnyder fits on the Yankees is turning into a perennial mystery. Once considered among the franchise’s more interesting prospects, Refsnyder’s star has faded over the past couple years as the club has restocked its farm system by leaps and bounds.

His performance on the field, albeit in limited opportunities, hasn’t really helped his case either. In 222 total plate appearances in the majors, Refsnyder owns an unremarkable .262/.332/.354 slash line along with two homers and 17 RBI. (Though one of those home runs was a memorable blast over the Green Monster at Fenway, his first ever MLB round-tripper.) You could argue that he just can’t hack it at this level, or you could blame his inconsistent playing time for his struggles.

Either way, Refsnyder hasn’t given the Yanks many reasons to put him in the lineup every day. He has hit well at Triple-A (career .290/.369/.419 slash in 248 games there), but that success hasn’t revealed itself with the big league club yet.

In an effort to boost his chances of carving out a niche on the roster, the Yankees have recently been trying to mold him into their own poor man’s version of Ben Zobrist. An infielder by trade, Refsnyder began to make more appearances in the outfield last season. Overall, he’s played first, second and third bases along with the corner outfield spots in the major leagues.

That multi-purpose versatility will likely be Refsnyder’s best shot at securing a role this season unless he takes a big step forward offensively. He certainly won’t be first (or second, or maybe not even third) in line for reps at first base, but if things go wrong he could definitely be called upon there.

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Outside the Organization

This is the least likely possibility, especially if you take Brian Cashman at his word that the Yankees are done adding players this offseason. But if the club wants a bit more insurance at the first base position, there are some free agent alternatives still out there to consider.

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The Yanks are probably not going to make a surprise play for Mike Napoli. The market for him has developed rather slowly, but he is still likely to get more than the Yanks would be willing to pay at the moment. The rest of the remaining free agent field is a collection of aging former stars and players with obvious limitations.

Chris Carter led the National League with 42 home runs last year, but his reputation as an all-or-nothing power hitter (career .218 BA and .314 OBP) has seemingly kept teams at a distance. Adam Lind has demonstrated his share of pop over the years as well, but he’s coming off a disappointing season in Seattle and will be 34 next July. The Yankees could be tempted to see what either would do at their home ballpark, but it seems like a long shot.

Justin Morneau isn’t really worth a flyer, nor is Logan Morrison or James Loney (despite his reputation as a Yankee killer). And the notion of Ryan Howard is just plain depressing. In past years, the Yankees may have been willing to sign a past-his-prime star for name value alone, but the organization’s approach truly seems to have changed. Holliday appears to be as close as they will come to that category.

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If the Bombers bring in anyone else, it will probably be as depth at Triple-A, similar to the role played by Chris Parmelee last year. The young up-and-comers are going to be given a chance to succeed first.

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