PHOENIX – Before the Cubs’ game against the Diamondbacks late Friday night in Arizona, Kris Bryant and teammates watched like most fans around baseball the heralded debut of MLB’s top prospect, Vlad Guerrero Jr., in Toronto.
Guerrero’s debut was by far the biggest headline in the game Friday – one of the most hyped debuts in years.
“We were all in here watching it, and I had a moment where I was like, `Man, is this what was going on when I was taking my first at-bat,’ ” Bryant said. “I don’t ‘know what he did in the game. Probably better than me.”
Guerrero doubled leading off the ninth in a tie game and ended up scoring the winning run. “OK, so he did better than I did,” said Bryant, who struck out three times in his 0-for-4 debut four years ago.
Maybe. But Guerrero didn’t have a billboard outside the Blue Jays’ ballpark anticipating the call weeks before it came, either.
“I forgot about that,” Bryant said.
In fact, it might have been easy for some to forget in recent weeks just how big the Cubs’ third baseman was in the game even before he reached the big leagues, how big he was as a Rookie of the Year during the 2015 playoff season – and how much bigger he got just one year later when he won the MVP as the Cubs went wire-to-wire in the NL Central on the way to their first World Series championship in more than a century.
Billboards, personal accolades, throwing to first to record the clinching out in the World Series?
Yeah? What have you done lately?
That’s been the theme of this season for Bryant almost from the outset as he returns from a shoulder injury that put him on the disabled list twice last year and sapped his renowned power the second half of the season.
Not that the hyper scrutiny now surprises him any more than the hyper expectations did three and four years ago.
“Nothing surprises me nowadays, it really doesn’t,” he said after a loss Friday night in which he homered for the first time since the season opener and drew a walk. “I learned that in the first 20 games. You’ve just got to go with it and smile.”
As Bryant went 79 at-bats and 95 plates appearances without a homer until Friday – his second-longest drought only to the month following his injury last year – the questions and concerns only seemed to mount via social media and among media seeking answers to the kind of stretch that players of all talent levels have experienced as long as the game has been played.
“For me I can control my attitude and my effort and the work I put in,” said Bryant, a two-time All-Star who appeared on his way to a third selection until jamming his shoulder May 19 on a headfirst slide last year. “At the end of the day, when I do all that, I’m satisfied because I know that I did everything I can to put myself in a position to succeed. I might not succeed. But I’m trying. And that’s all I can ask for.”
It’s been more than trying over the past seven games – as he has gone 6-for-21 with four extra-base hits, producing a .483 on-base percentage and 1.054 OPS in that surge.
“That guy’s a stud, man,” said teammate Albert Almora Jr., who tied a career-high with four hits Friday. “We all have a lot of confidence in him. It’s part of the game we’re in. …”
In fact, Bryant was 0-for-12 in his career against Arizona pitcher Robbie Ray until the two-run homer in Friday’s third (the walk also was against Ray).
“I’m seeing better,” said manager Joe Maddon, who as part of his new managing-millennials initiative communicates daily with Bryant and other players. “The conversations are good; he’s feeling better; he’s feeling progress.
“I really have nothing to feel concerned about, because conversationally we’re really connected right now.”
Bryant, Maddon and other team officials all have insisted repeatedly since the start of spring training and into this season that the once-ailing left shoulder is healthy – and Bryant says even stronger than before because of the rehab work.
He even got a laugh out of one reporter mentioning his improved “exit velo” over the past week.
“Yeah, exit velo, it’s going up,” he said with a smirk. “Sweet.”
Bryant said he laughs when he sees those numbers now displayed on scoreboards around the majors.
“But if that’s the way we’re going to use it, they’re going up, which means I’m hitting it harder,” he said, adding for the baseball-science-challenged: “The harder you hit, they probably won’t be able to catch it as much. So that’s a good thing.”
