Kris Bryant Position: Third base, with a little outfield sprinkled in for good measure 2015 Stats: 151 G, 650 PA, .275/.369/.488, .317 TAv, 6.2 WARP Year in Review: My father likes to tell stories. Tales of when he was he was in the army, medical school, his cricket-playing days, and how he developed a love of baseball when […]
Tag: Kris Bryant
Kris Bryant, the CBA, and the Grievance That Is and Might Be
Back in March of 2015, there was a debate of sorts going on regarding the Cubs and their young, stud third baseman, Kris Bryant. The Cubs had decided to send him back to Triple-A to start the season despite the fact that he crushed the ball in Spring Training, hitting .425/.477/1.175 with nine home runs […]
Grieve Not, Cubs’ Fan
We all know the story now: By waiting a little less than two weeks to bring him to the big-league club, the Cubs would gain an extra year of control of Kris Bryant’s services. Much was made about the decision to keep Bryant down, but his eventual call-up, strong performance, and the Cubs’ brilliant season […]
Inside the At-Bat: Kris Bryant’s Go-Ahead, Fifth-Inning Home Run
Call out the instigator Because there’s something in the air As Kris Bryant’s go-ahead home run sailed into the North Side evening air, one could not help but wonder what Michael Wacha and Yadier Molina had been thinking in throwing him a sixth straight four-seam fastball. This season, Bryant slugged .490 and hit seven home […]
Bryant Looking to Get off the Ground
Kris Bryant doesn’t hit into double plays. It’s just not his thing. In 650 plate appearances this regular season, Bryant grounded into seven double plays. His 34.2 percent groundball rate is 14th lowest in baseball for players with at least 400 plate appearances. He’s also deceivingly fast and always busts it out of the box, […]
Fight Club: Don’t Mess with These Cubs
As we saw in the Wild Card game on Wednesday, things can get heated in the playoffs. An inside pitch here, an angry glare there, and soon you’ve got punches. Fisticuffs. Headlocks. Shiners. And so on. We don’t endorse baseball fights, and of course we don’t want anyone to get hurt, so this is all in good fun. […]
That’s So Cub: A Look at the Top September Contributors and Moments
It’s the beginning of October, which not only means that Halloween is around the corner and you might even hear the first ominous tinkle of mall Christmas music, but also that I, as I have since the beginning of time the beginning of the season, will sit down and write about the top Cubs’ contributors and moments from the previous […]
Splitting Hairs and Homers
My long personal nightmare is over. It ended a week or so ago, actually; I just didn’t have time to tell you so until now. For the first five and a half months of this season, Anthony Rizzo had a better OPS against left-handed pitchers than against right-handed ones. In 2014, that was true even […]
Even in Dark Times, the Cubs See Light
Oftentimes, it’s hard to really pinpoint when a team became great, that moment when the players, the fans, basically anyone following the team accepted the team isn’t just pretending, they legitimately are good. But for the 2015, it’s hard to deny when that stretch came. Kris Bryant certainly didn’t hesitate. “I think in early August […]
Game 151 Recap: Cubs 4 Brewers 0
Top Play (WPA): The Cubs didn’t need much scoring in this one, but they still got a big hit from Kris Bryant. With no score in the bottom of the third, Bryant stepped in against Tyler Cravy with two outs and Kyle Schwarber standing on first base. Cravy threw a 94-mph fastball that just hit […]