At this time last year, Greg Bird was a few weeks into his promotion from High-A Tampa to Double-A Trenton. Yesterday he was batting 5th and starting at first base in the Yankees’ Major League lineup, and hitting 2 2-run home runs to propel the Bombers to a series sweep of the Twins.
At this time last year, Luis Severino was also with the Trenton Thunder and was in the process of returning from the DL and making a few short starts before the end of the Minor League season. This year he’s already a key part of the Major League rotation after getting called up 2 weeks ago, and in his last start on Sunday he mostly held the best offense in baseball down for 6 innings using only his fastball.