Joe Maddon is known for his catch phrases. So when he delivered memorable line after line at his introductory press conference at a local watering hole just outside Wrigley Field last November, it was hard to pick just one quip that stood out. However, on Friday, when the much-hyped and highly anticipated arrival of Kris Bryant had finally come, the young prospect pointed to one in particular that felt quite appropriate on this day: Don’t ever let the pressure exceed the pleasure.
“There’s no pressure in this game,” Bryant told a large gathering of media members prior to his debut. “If you let pressure creep in then you’re not having fun, and like I said, I play this game because it’s fun.”
Bryant refused to allow pressure to be a part of his day, but he did admit to some anxiousness when he first stepped to the plate.
“It was more than I could have ever imagined,” Bryant said of the standing ovation that he received prior to his first at-bat. “For them to believe in me that much it was pretty cool, it gives me that extra boost of confidence stepping into the box. But at the same time, I felt like I was trying to do a little too much just because I was hearing all that stuff. But I’m usually pretty good at blocking all that stuff out and I think as time goes by I’ll get better at it.”
The story everyone will read on this day will be Bryant’s rough day at the plate, 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. However, Bryant was quick to point out that there are two sides in this game, and he performed quite well with the glove—an aspect of his game that many question. Bryant got his first grounder out of the way early, starting a 5-4-3 double play in the first. He made a diving stab towards the line to pick off a line drive headed for the corner, and made another strong play on a hopper that allowed him to show off his strong arm with a fastball to first.
And while he may not have delivered what many had hoped at the plate—at least one fan (should we really call this person a fan?) had seen enough after the third strikeout—much of the pregame with Maddon and Theo Epstein was spent managing expectations and trying to quell any overreactions that may come with a poor performance.
“It’s important to be realistic,” Epstein said. “Expectations are pretty high, that’s why I mention the 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in short-season ball in his debut. It’s important to give players time to adjust and to find their way. But there are a lot of different ways for Kris to contribute to a win. We think we have a competitive team this year and he has a chance to be a big part of that.”
Maddon said he wanted to do his best to keep things simple for Bryant, telling him his only expectations were that he have fun and play hard. Maddon continued that he had no plans to inundate Bryant with information and scouting reports, it was fine for the third baseman to look to the dugout to see where he should be positioned and to know that if he had a bad day, he’d still be in the lineup the next game. Maddon added that he liked that Bryant had really embraced the concept of not letting the pressure exceed the pleasure.
“I think that’s a simple phrase to follow now that things may get a bit complicated,” Maddon said. “Because things can get complicated if we permit it, and part of it is my responsibility, I really believe that. I told him to come talk to me anytime, and of course I’ll try to have my antenna up if I think it might be getting overwhelming for him and we have some good veterans too who will be there for him. All that stuff I have to be cognizant of on a daily basis.”
Even Bryant pointed out that unrealistic expectations need to be ignored.
“Who knows what the future holds for me?” Bryant said before the game. “I just know that I’m going go out there and play as hard as I can and work to get better every day. I’ve been doing that my whole life and things have turned out the way I wanted to in this game. When you start putting expectations that are kind of way out there, you kind of lose sight of what’s really important in this game.”
It’s not unexpected, not to anyone who’s spend any amount of time with Bryant, but the youngster certainly didn’t let a bad day at the plate get him down. The same beaming smile that Bryant had plastered across his face before the game remained even after three strikeouts and a tough loss to the Padres.
“It was fun,” Bryant told the media of his debut. “Sure, I could have done a little better. There’s two sides to the ball, I felt like I did well on defense, didn’t come around on hitting. I helped my team out as much as I could. I just absorbed everything, it was just a fun moment—all the smells, the sounds, playing in front of 30,000 people. I think that’s the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of and they’re all cheering for you. It was just a really cool moment for me.”
Things probably got a little less cool for him when James Shields—whose changeup was on point Friday—fed the top prospect a steady diet of one of the better pitches in the game. In his first at-bat, Bryant came up with two down and Anthony Rizzo on first.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Bryant said of Shields. “Of course your first game you want to go out there and just do everything. You want to hit four home runs in one at-bat, you just want to show that you’re here to help the team win.”
It did seem like Bryant was trying to do too much in this first at-bat. With the adrenaline already flowing and an extra boost from a rabid group at Wrigley, Bryant swung through three straight pitches, the latter two which were nasty changeups.
Though the ultimate result may have been the same, at-bat number two was actually significantly better for Bryant. He quickly fell behind 0-2, but battled back, fouling off a pitch and working the count full—and on ball three he displayed a strong eye, laying off a pitch just off the edge of the plate. However, another nasty changeup on pitch seven, and another whiff for Bryant.
“I felt a lot more comfortable, seeing the ball a little better,” Bryant said about the at-bats following his initial foray against Shields. “But still anxious. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life and I’m out there trying to do too much in those four at-bats. It was good for me to experience that.”
Bryant came up in the fifth with the Cubs offense on a bit of a roll. Two runs were already in and they had just one out with men at second and third. Clearly, that anxiousness was still in play and Bryant swung at two-seamer bearing in on him to open the at-bat. He took another, fought off a change, then went down meekly on a nice cutter.
“Obviously it’s frustrating when you got guys in scoring position and you don’t get the job done,” Bryant said. “But I’ve been in that position a lot, I’ve had some good moments and plenty of bad moments. I think you’re going to get more bad moments in this game and it’s all about keeping that level head and realizing that this game is hard and it doesn’t always come to you in the first three at-bats. But if you have the right attitude and go about your business the right way, I think it usually comes around. No reason to hang my head.”
In the seventh, with the Cubs now trailing by one with one down and Dexter Fowler on second base, the Padres elected to intentionally walk Rizzo to get to Bryant. Bryant laid off the high heat from reliever Dale Thayer, looked at a fastball up and over the plate, and then grounded another four-seamer weakly to third. After seeing just one four-seam fastball in his previous three at-bats, Thayer gave Bryant nothing but the heater, which isn’t unusual for Thayer, who has thrown the pitch nearly 75 percent of the time in his career according to Brooks Baseball.
“Yeah, I have,” Bryant said when asked if he’d ever had someone intentionally walked to get to him. “I take that as a challenge. He got me that time. But that’s the situation you want to be in. I sure hope to be in that situation again throughout my career as many times as I can. I hope the next time that I get him.”
Bryant said he was a little surprised by how he was pitched on the night, but admitted it was a smart way to go about things for any rookie. The Padres stayed around, but ultimately out of the zone for the most part—he saw just three pitches on the day that were strikes according to Brooks Baseball—and attacked him with mostly off-speed stuff before Thayer delivered straight heat.
Time after time, Bryant continually seemed to say the right things when asked about his rough day at the plate. Most will focus on that 0-for-4, but his comments before and after the game are much more telling as to what he brings to the table. As Epstein mentioned, and no doubt you’ve seen it on twitter numerous time by now, Bryant went 0-for-5 in his professional debut with the Boise Hawks.
“It’s just another day,” Bryant said when asked how he handled that day. “Yeah, I did have a really bad start there. I went home and said tomorrow is a new day, a new pitcher, and a new game. And that’s what I’m going to do (today). Good or bad tomorrow, I’ll come out the next day the same way. If you’re going to have success in the game, that’s the way you have to approach every game.”
Hearing things like that is what has Maddon singing the young man’s praises and believing that, regardless of how he performs early, things are going to work out just fine.
“Physically, talent-wise, he’s ready to be a major-league player,” Maddon said. “How you process the day mentally, that’s what sets you apart. I think he’s pretty good at that. So, whether he does well or does not do well today, to me it’s not really relevant, because I know over a period of time he will. Twenty-four hours can make a huge difference in anyone’s life, so don’t get down on yourself, I’m not (going to).”
It’s easy to overreact to one rough game. Heck, Cubs fans were quite concerned after being shut out on Opening Night when Jon Lester struggled and the offense went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position. The bats have come around, Lester likely will as well, and this team is clearly headed in the right direction. Neither Maddon nor Bryant himself is going to get down after one bad day at the plate. And neither should anyone else.