Greg Bird is going back to his roots in his latest attempt to resurrect his baseball career.
The former Yankees first baseman signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, the team announced, and he will be invited to spring major league training. Bird, 28, played for Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado, just outside Denver.
Formerly considered the Yankees’ first baseman a long time ago, his injuries hampered Bird’s career. He appeared in 186 regular season games over the course of five years for the Yankees, missing the entire 2016 season because of shoulder surgery.
The Yankees assigned Bird to the assignment after the 2019 season and he joined the Texas Rangers in a secondary league deal. He was assigned to a mission in August and joined the Philadelphia Phillies in a minor league deal in September, meeting briefly with Joe Girardi. Bird did not appear in an MLB game during the short 60-game season.