In the week Kris Bryant turns thirty three, Carl Taylor, aka @punkytype, goes in search of the former National League MVP.
Cast your mind back to the thrilling World Series of 2016; Game 7 at a packed and expectant Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland Ohio.
The series had swung back and forth between the Cleveland Indians, title-less since 1948, and the Billy Goat-ridden Chicago Cubs, without a World Series win since 1908. With the game tied at 6-6 after an exhilarating nine innings, the heavens opened and the tension was ramped up by a 17 minute rain delay.
Then, finally, with two runs in the top of the tenth and a close call as Cleveland pulled a run back in the final inning, the Billy Goat curse was finally dispelled and the Cubs were World Champions after 108 long years. And the final play? A soft ground ball by pinch hitter Michael Martinez to star player and Wrigley favourite Kris Bryant at third base, who threw to his fellow Cubs legend Anthony Rizzo at first base, thereby recording the final out of a pulsating Fall Classic.
In that World Series, Bryant hit two home runs, finished with an OBP of .367 and a slugging percentage of .500, as he underlined his status as an elite young ballplayer.
In only his second year in the Majors, Bryant was the undoubted star of the World Champion Cubs team in 2016, hitting .292 with 176 hits, 39 home runs, 102 RBI and 121 runs scored across a total of 155 games that season.
This was more than enough for Bryant to represent the National League at his second All Star Game, win the National League MVP and the Hank Aaron Award for the NL’s best hitter that year, building on multiple awards garnered in his outstanding 2015 rookie year. In fact, Bryant became the first player to win the Golden Spikes Award, a Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award, a Rookie of the Year award and an MVP in successive seasons.
Despite signing a record breaking pre-arbitration $1.05 million dollar contract in 2017, Bryant’s production dipped as he swatted 29 home runs, drove home 73 RBI and hit for a .295 average. He did not make the All Star game that season.
His 2018 season, which featured a substantial increase in his salary, was marred by injuries despite hitting his 100th Major League home run. Bryant returned to some form in the 2019 season, hitting .282/.382/.521 with 31 homers, 77 RBI and 108 runs scored. Despite reaching his third All Star game, there were signs that Bryant’s fielding skills had deserted him, as he finished the season with the lowest fielding % of all MLB 3rd basemen (.947).
The downward trend continued in the shortened 2020 season, as Bryant batted .206/.293/.351 with four homers and 11 RBI in 131 at bats across only 34 games. An improvement in 2021 (.267/.358/.503), which included a fourth All Star appearance, was his Cubs swan song and he was traded to the Giants mid-season. Although Bryant batted .262/.344/.444 with 28 runs, seven homers and 22 RBI in 187 at bats for San Francisco, it was clear that he was no longer an elite player.
At the conclusion of the 2021 season, Bryant, a free agent, hastily, and with subsequent regret, chose to sign with the non contending Colorado Rockies. A 7-year, $182 million no trade clause contract shocked baseball at the time given Bryant’s declining big league career and the fact that the Rockies had lost their two best hitters, Nolan Arenado and Trevor Storey, to the Cardinals and Red Sox respectively.
It would be fair to say that Bryant has since disappeared in Colorado. Plagued by injuries, especially back pain (he has been added to the team’s injured list seven times in the last two seasons) and a continued drastic drop off in form, Bryant was described in 2024 by Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler as a “ghost in uniform.”
In the same column, Keeler stated that Bryant’s Rockies contract was, “the worst contract in baseball.”
In fact, over the first three seasons of his Rockies contract, Bryant has taken the field in only 32.7% of games (159 out of a possible 486), posting a combined WAR of -1.3. Despite this, the Rockies have confirmed that Bryant will flip between DH and the outfield in 2025, health permitting, of course.
There are salutary lessons to be learned from the Kris Bryant saga. However, for baseball fans in general, and especially the Coors Field faithful, let’s hope Kris Bryant can remain healthy in 2025, regain his mojo and rekindle memories of that heady November night in 2016 when he and his Cubs team ruled the baseball world.
Photo credit: Norm Hall / Getty Images Sport
