CHICAGO - Tyler Austin's efforts to unseat Greg Bird as the Yankees first baseman ended when New York included him in the trade for Lance Lynn last month, and Austin says he's excited to be a Twin. But his father, Chris Austin, obviously isn't happy about the Yankees' choice.
And Tyler Austin isn't happy about his father making that public.
Twice in the past 10 days, Chris Austin compared his son to Bird on Twitter, and Tyler wishes he hadn't.
"Pretty embarrassed about what my dad put on there," Austin said.
On Aug. 11, after Austin homered in his debut with the Twins, his father tweeted "18 homerun for Tyler on the year but bird is word." And Saturday, after Austin singled twice and connected on his third home run as a Twin, Chris Austin tweeted "Tyler has more hits with the twins in a week than bird has in a month with the Yankees."
Both tweets were later deleted.
"I didn't know about it until somebody sent me a picture of it. I told him immediately to take it down," Austin said of the latest tweet. "It's embarrassing and should never happen."
Austin, 26, is off to a strong start with the Twins, batting .370 (10-for-27) with three home runs in eight games so far. Bird is the object of much criticism in New York, and it's grown louder given his 9-for-64 (.141) slump since Austin was traded July 30. But the Twins' new first baseman and DH is clearly eager to move on from the controversy in New York.
