Kris Bryant
Kristopher Lee Bryant, nicknamed "KB", is an American professional baseball third baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball. He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants.
Bryant attended the University of San Diego, where he played college baseball for the Toreros. He was named an All-American in 2012 and 2013 and won the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award in 2013. The Cubs selected him with the second overall pick in the 2013 MLB draft, and he quickly became one of the top prospects, winning the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award and Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award in 2014.
Bryant made his major league debut in 2015. He was named an MLB All-Star and won the National League's Rookie of the Year Award. He was again named an All-Star in 2016, won a World Series championship with the Cubs, and won the NL Most Valuable Player Award. He was named an All-Star again in 2019 and 2021. The Cubs traded him to the Giants in 2021, and after that season he signed a seven-year contract with the Rockies.
Amateur career
Bryant attended Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Playing baseball for the school's varsity team all four years, he had a.418 batting average,.958 slugging percentage, 103 hits, and 47 home runs. He also played American Legion Baseball. USA Today named him to their All-USA baseball first-team in 2010. The Toronto Blue Jays selected Bryant in the 18th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft. He did not sign, and enrolled at the University of San Diego to play college baseball for the San Diego Toreros.As a freshman at San Diego in 2011, Bryant had a.365 batting average,.482 on-base percentage,.599 SLG, and nine home runs. He was named a freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger and the West Coast Conference Co-Freshman of the Year and Co-Player of the Year, sharing both honors with Marco Gonzales. Following his freshman season, Bryant played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League, batting.223 with three home runs and 16 runs batted in in 37 games.
As a sophomore in 2012, Bryant batted.366 with a.671 SLG, 14 home runs, and 57 RBIs. He was again named first team All-WCC and he was also named a first-team All-American by Baseball America. That summer, Bryant was selected by USA Baseball to play for the U.S. collegiate national team. The team finished third at the Haarlem Baseball Week tournament.
In 2013 as a junior, Bryant hit 31 home runs to lead the NCAA. He hit the most home runs by a college player since the NCAA switched to a BBCOR composite bat in 2011, breaking the previous record of 30 set by Georgia Southern's Victor Roache in 2011 and amounted to more home runs than 223 of 296 Division I teams hit that season. Bryant won the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy, both awarded to the top collegiate player in the nation. He was also named a Louisville Slugger First Team All-American, the Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year, and the American Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues (2013–2015)
Bryant was considered to be one of the best available players in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. The Houston Astros, who had the first overall pick, scouted Bryant. Bryant believed he would be chosen by the Colorado Rockies, who had the third selection of the draft.After the Astros selected pitcher Mark Appel with the first overall selection, the Chicago Cubs chose Bryant with the second pick. This choice was surprising as the Cubs were expected to select a pitcher. The Cubs later acknowledged that they would have selected Appel had he still been available. Many baseball executives and scouts agreed that Bryant was the safest pick in the draft. He was also rated as the best hitter in the draft because of his abilities hitting for power and making contact on inside fastballs as well as down-and-away curveballs. Bryant and the Cubs agreed to a contract with a $6.7 million signing bonus two days prior to the signing deadline.
Bryant began his professional career with the Class A Short Season Boise Hawks of the Northwest League, where he batted.354 with four home runs. He was promoted to Class A-Advanced with the Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League on August 12, where he hit.333 with five home runs. After the season, he played in Arizona Fall League. He was named co-player of the week, along with Mitch Haniger, in the first week of the fall league. He was named the MVP of the AFL after hitting.364/.457/.727 with six home runs in 20 games.
Bryant started 2014 in Double-A with the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League. In June, he won the Home Run Derby and participated in the All-Star game. On June 18, the Cubs promoted Bryant to Triple-A with the Iowa Cubs of the Pacific Coast League after batting.355 with 22 home runs and 58 RBIs in 68 games with Tennessee. He played in the All-Star Futures Game in July. At the end of the regular season, Bryant's 43 combined home runs between Tennessee and Iowa won him the Joe Bauman Home Run Award. Bryant was named the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year and Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year. Baseball America named him the No. 1 prospect in 2015.
Bryant was invited to spring training by the Cubs in 2015. In 40 at-bats, he hit nine home runs, which led all players. He had a.425/.477/1.175 slash line. Despite his performance, the Cubs sent Bryant back to Iowa. Baseball analysts assumed that the service-time rules in MLB were a major influence on the team's decision; if Bryant were to play 12 days in the minors before being promoted to the majors, the Cubs would receive another year of club control. The MLB Players Association issued a statement saying, "Today is a bad day for baseball". In seven games with the Iowa, Bryant hit three home runs and batted.321.
Chicago Cubs (2015–2021)
2015 season: NL Rookie of the Year
On April 17, 2015, Bryant was called up to the majors by the Cubs. He made his debut that day at Wrigley Field, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. The next day at Wrigley, Bryant recorded his first hit, an RBI single. Bryant hit his first major league home run on May 9, off Milwaukee Brewers' pitcher Kyle Lohse. His second home run came two days later at Wrigley Field against the New York Mets, off Jacob deGrom. Bryant finished the month of May with a.265 batting average, seven home runs, 22 RBIs, and 16 walks and was named the National League Rookie of the Month for May.Bryant's first career grand slam came on June 17 in the ninth inning off infielder David Murphy in a 17–0 win against the Cleveland Indians. On July 4 against the Miami Marlins, Bryant hit both a two-run home run and his second grand slam of the season off Jarred Cosart. This made him the second Cubs rookie to hit two grand slams since Billy Williams in 1961. Bryant was selected as an injury replacement selection for Giancarlo Stanton on the NL roster of the All-Star Game in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also participated in the Home Run Derby. On July 25, against the Philadelphia Phillies, Bryant flew out at the warning track for the last out of Cole Hamels' no-hitter. On July 27, Bryant hit his first career walk-off home run, a two-run shot off John Axford in a 9–8 win over the Colorado Rockies.
On September 6, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Bryant hit a home run, the longest of the MLB season, off Rubby De La Rosa. With the home run, Bryant tied Williams and Geovany Soto, for the Cubs' franchise single-season RBI record for rookies with 86. On September 11, Bruant broke the record, driving in a run with a double. On September 22, he passed Williams for the most home runs by a Cubs rookie, with 26.
In 151 games of his rookie season, Bryant batted.275 with 26 home runs, 31 doubles, and 99 RBIs, which were the most for a rookie since Albert Pujols's 130 for the 2001 St. Louis Cardinals. Bryant struck out 199 times, which led the NL and set a new rookie record. He had the lowest contact percentage on his swings in the major leagues. According to sales on MLB's website, Bryant had the best-selling jersey in baseball during the 2015 regular season.
With the Cubs finishing the season, 97–65, the team clinched a Wild Card spot in the postseason, their first playoff berth in seven years. Despite Bryant not having any hits in the NL Wild Card Game, the Cubs shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4–0, and advanced to the NL Division Series where, in Game 3, Bryant hit a two-run home run against the rival Cardinals to help the Cubs to an 8–6 win. The Cubs won the series, winning three games to one, but lost to the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series in a four-game sweep. Bryant was named the Baseball America Rookie of the Year, making him the first in history to win the Baseball America college player, minor league player, and major league rookie of the year awards in successive seasons. He was voted the "Esurance MLB Awards" Best Rookie – by fans, the media, former players, team front-office personnel, and the Society for American Baseball Research. Bryant won the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award for the NL, becoming the first Cub to earn it since Soto in 2008. Further, he was the unanimous winner from the Baseball Writers' Association of America of the NL Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the 11th NL player to win by a unanimous vote. He was also named by his fellow players as the Players Choice Awards NL Most Outstanding Rookie.
After the season, Bryant filed a grievance against the Cubs for delaying his call-up to the majors for the purpose of delaying his free agency, accusing the team of service time manipulation. About the grievance, Bryant said, "For me it’s just important to continue to go out there and do what I do, so that I can help the team in any way possible in where we’re at today," Bryant added, "It's just important for me to not even worry about it right now because it takes away from so much of what we have going this year. And that was last year’s news." The grievance was finally heard in January 2020, with the arbitrator ruling against Bryant, setting his free agency for after the 2021 season.