Greg Bird to begin rehab, hopes to return next week

Embed from Getty Images According to Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch, Greg Bird will play five innings with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders on Wednesday, and could return to the big league club as early as next week.

Greg Bird said he will play five innings at first base for @swbrailriders tomorrow. Hopes to be back with @MLB team next week.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 15, 2017

Bird is recovering from ankle surgery which has sidelined him since May 1; he first injured his ankle towards the end of spring training when he fouled a ball off his foot. The pain lingered for several months before Bird ultimately had a successful procedure to remove the os trigonum from his ankle. Bird would be a welcome left-handed bat to a very right-handed heavy Yankees offense -- Joe Girardi has said that the 24-year-old has looked "really good" in his workouts. However, Girardi will have a difficult decision to make. Chase Headley has played well since making the move over to first, and Todd Frazier has played better of late at third. It's possible the Yankees try to ease Bird back into action in a platoon with Headley. Before getting hurt, Bird was having an abysmal season. He was hitting .100 with a home run in 72 plate appearances before hitting the disabled list.