How Yankees’ Luke Voit’s defensive struggles weren’t just physical

Yankees first baseman Luke Voit took Greg Bird’s job at first base with a hot bat at the end of the season, but …

NEW YORK — A few things have to happen for Luke Voit to have a chance to remain the Yankees‘ starting first baseman.

He has to hope general manager Brian Cashman doesn’t upgrade at the position in the winter. Then, in spring training, he has to out-hit Greg Bird, who still has his supporters in the organization, those who think the best is yet to come for a player the Yankees seem to always be saying the best is yet to come.

Voit, who had some struggles defensively, will also have to better familiarize himself with the Yankees’ positioning, infield coach Carlos Mendoza said.

While saying that the hulking 27-year-old was overall a “pleasant surprise” with the glove, he needed more time to get used to the club’s frequent shifts.

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“Obviously, he’s a big guy but he catches the ball,” Mendoza said during the playoffs. “The biggest adjustment has been the positioning. We shift a lot. I don’t think he was used to, when there’s a right-hander (at the plate) and you have a second baseman all the way on the other side (of second base) and just getting comfortable and going after balls he didn’t need to or he needed to go for.

“Same thing as when we’re shifting guys from the left side of the infield. You’ve got a second baseman sometimes shifting into (shallow) right field. Sometimes, he was going after balls that – he just needed to go back to first base because we had a second baseman over there. He just needs, again, playing experience, knowing your surroundings.”

In 625 2/3 innings at first base, Bird scored a 2.4 in Ultimate Zone Rating, which calculates how many runs a player saves above the average player at his position. Meanwhile, Voit’s UZR was -0.8 in 287 innings.

Voit took Bird’s job with his bat, though. From Aug. 24 until season’s end, Voit hit .351 with 14 homers and 31 RBI in 32 games (31 starts).

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.