The New York Yankees shipped out Tyler Austin ahead of July's non-waiver trade deadline, and the first baseman's father believes the team chose the wrong infielder.
Chris Austin sent out tweets - which have since been deleted - claiming that his son, now a member of the Minnesota Twins, is performing better than Yankees first baseman Greg Bird.
man tyler austin’s dad is salty af pic.twitter.com/ECrxrB6QIc
— samantha (@newportliving) August 20, 2018
At the time of the Aug. 11 tweet, Austin had hit 18 homers between the major and minor leagues. With the Yankees and Twins, he owns a .250/.302/.520 slash line with 11 home runs this season.
"Tyler has more hits with the Twins in a week than Bird has in a month with the Yankees," a tweet from Aug. 18 noted. Since joining Minnesota, Austin is 10-for-27 with two walks and three homers. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old Bird is 9-for-61 in August with seven walks, two homers, and 15 strikeouts.
On July 30, Austin was traded along with pitching prospect Luis Rijo in exchange for right-handed starter Lance Lynn. After making the majors out of spring training, Austin became expendable, with Bird, Neil Walker, and Luke Voit all vying for playing time.
Entering 2018, Austin was ranked as the No. 12 prospect in the Yankees' system, according to MLB Pipeline.
Bird earned a promotion to the big leagues in 2015 and hit 11 home runs over 46 games down the stretch. Since then, injuries have derailed the first baseman's career.
