Tyler Austin

Early life

Austin is the oldest of three sons born to Kim and Chris Austin. He also has two younger brothers, Dylan and Kyle. Though he grew up in Conyers, Georgia, 25 miles (40 km) from Atlanta, Austin grew up as a fan of the New York Yankees and considered Derek Jeter to be his favorite player.

Austin attended Heritage High School in Conyers. He played for the school's baseball team as a catcher, third baseman, and pitcher. He was invited to play in amateur showcase tournaments, such as the AFLAC All-American Game. In 2008, his sophomore season, Austin had a .626 batting average with 19 home runs, and The Rockdale Citizen named him their high school baseball hitter of the year. At the age of 17, Austin was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had surgery to remove the tumor, but did not require chemotherapy as the cancer was caught early and did not spread to other parts of his body.

Minor Leagues

Austin committed to attend Kennesaw State University on a college baseball scholarship to play for the Kennesaw State Owls. Noticed by Yankees' area scout Darryl Monroe, the Yankees selected Austin in the 13th round, with the 415th overall selection, of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft as a catcher. Monroe said that Austin's struggle with cancer "added to my interest, learning what kind of courage and strength he had through that process, how he was undeterred by it", as well as his "passion for the game". Austin signed with the Yankees rather than enroll at Kennesaw State, receiving a $130,000 signing bonus. He made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Yankees of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, playing in two games. In 2011, Austin began the season with the Gulf Coast Yankees, before receiving a promotion to the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League. He had a .354 batting average across the 2011 season. Though he was drafted as a catcher, Austin spent most of his playing time as a first baseman and third baseman.

Austin began the 2012 season with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League. He was named to appear in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game. After hitting 14 home runs with Charleston, the Yankees promoted Austin to the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in July. He was chosen to represent the Yankees in the All-Star Futures Game, but suffered a head injury in July 2012, which caused him to withdrew from the game. After the end of Tampa's regular season, the Yankees promoted Austin again, this time to the Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League, so that he could play for the Thunder during the Eastern League postseason. He finished the 2012 season, hitting .322 with a .400 on base percentage, .559 slugging percentage, 17 home runs, and 80 runs batted in (RBIs). Brian Cashman, the Yankees' general manager, referred to Austin as a "mega prospect" in August 2012. Austin won the Yankees' Minor League Player of the Year Award for the 2012 season.

Prior to the 2013 season, Austin was ranked as the 77th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America. The Yankees invited Austin to spring training in 2013 as a non-roster player. He played for Trenton, primarily as an outfielder. He was selected to appear in the Eastern League All-Star Game. Austin went on the disabled list with a wrist injury in July, which caused him to miss almost 60 games. He batted .257 with a .344 on-base percentage and a .373 slugging percentage with six home runs and 40 RBIs in 83 games for Trenton in 2013. The Yankees assigned him to the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League (AFL) after the regular season.

Austin lost about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) by focusing on nutrition and gained strength during the 2013–14 offseason. After battling a flare up of his wrist injury from the previous season, he returned to Trenton for the 2014 season. He batted .275 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs in 105 games during the 2014 season. After the regular season, the Yankees again assigned Austin to Scottsdale in the AFL, but his playing time was limited by a knee injury. On November 20, 2014, the Yankees added Austin to their 40-man roster to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Austin played for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League at the start of the 2015 season. He struggled with the RailRiders, hitting .230 before missing time with an injury in late June. The Yankees demoted Austin to the Trenton Thunder after he batted .235 in 73 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He batted .260 with two home runs and eight RBIs for Trenton. The Yankees designated him for assignment at the end of the minor league season in September, removing him from their 40-man roster. He went unclaimed on waivers, and the Yankees sent him outright to Trenton. The Yankees assigned him to the AFL for the third time after the 2015 season, as a replacement for the injured Eric Jagielo.

The Yankees did not invite Austin to spring training in 2016. He began the season with Trenton, where he batted .260 in 50 games. The Yankees promoted Austin to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre during the season. Austin batted .323 with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs in 57 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

New York Yankees

The Yankees promoted Austin to the major league roster on August 13. He made his Major league debut that day. In his first at bat, he hit his first major league home run off Matt Andriese. With the next at bat, Aaron Judge, also making his debut, hit a home run. This marked the first time that two teammates had hit home runs in their first at bats in the same game. Austin batted .241 with five home runs, but also had 36 strikeouts in 90 plate appearances.

Austin suffered a fracture of the navicular area of his left foot on February 17, 2017. He was ruled out for six weeks. On April 2, 2017, he was placed on the 60-day disabled list. He returned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on a rehabilitation assignment on May 26. The Yankees activated him from the disabled list and optioned him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on June 5. The Yankees promoted Austin to the major leagues on June 24, after designating Chris Carter for assignment. He batted 2-for-13 (.154) with a home run in four games before injuring his right hamstring. He went on the disabled list, and was activated and optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 11. On August 17, Austin was called back up after Garrett Cooper was injured. On August 19, Austin hit a three-run homer off Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale which helped them win a major game in a pennant race.