Considering
that Bryant is supposed to be the big star player who is going to turn the
pathetic Cubs franchise into baseball champions and that there were people all
throughout baseball who were worked up that he wasn’t immediately called up to
the major leagues this year (he hit .321 with three home runs and 12 runs
batted in for the Iowa Cubs in seven games before getting the call-up to
Chicago), it seemed funny to me that his big baseball debut was a dud.
OF
COURSE, IT should be kept in mind that it was just one ballgame, and part of
the beauty of baseball is that today’s goat is tomorrow’s on-field hero.
Since
then, Bryant seems to be on a hitting streak.
In
his seven ballgames with the Cubs as of Thursday, he has the .409 batting
average (and a .591 slugging percentage, along with four doubles, six walks and
seven strikeouts – three of which were those first-game whiffs that we’ve
already mentioned.
Now
I have amongst my Facebook-type friends a guy I went to Junior High School with
who seems to have bought into Cubs-mania on account of Bryant. I’m seeing
constant updates about how “oHHHHHHH-K” Bryant is, along with how he’s, “on
fire. He don’t need no Gatorade. Let that Rookie Phenom Hit. Hit, Rookie Phenom
Hit!” I took out his ALL-CAPS mania and translated it into readable English.
I’M
ALMOST SURPRISED I have not received some sort of Internet-transmitted blip
telling me where I could stuff my original commentary that called Bryant’s Cubs
debut an example of quintessential Chicago Cubness – failing when it most
mattered.
So
I’ll admit that Bryant has basically had a good first week playing baseball in
the Major Leagues. His games against the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh
Pirates (minus the first one) have been the kind of hot streak that any
ballplayer wishes to have – and that the best of them rely upon to balance out
the times when they “stink on ice” and can’t get a hit no matter what.
Then
again, that is one week out of a 26-week long regular season. And Bryant is
already being jerked around from position to position (center field, from his
usual third base).
The
real test will be to see how Bryant keeps hitting in mid-season, or in the
weeks following the All Star Game. When fatigue sets in and the aches and pains
any human body experiences when trying to play the rigor of a 162-game season
takes its toll.
LET’S
BE HONEST; Chicago White Sox star slugger Jose Abreu was the American League
Rookie of the Year last year largely because he had such an overwhelming first
half of the season.
I'm
not saying he flopped come August and September, but much of the home run power
that he showed early in the year and that had him in the running for much of the 2014 season to lead the
American League in home runs dissipated.
He
would have had 50-something home runs if he had kept up that ridiculous pace,
instead of the still-respectable 36 home runs he finished the season with.
Besides,
I can’t help but notice Bryant hadn’t hit any home runs as of Thursday. Abreu
managed to get his first on Opening Day – being the lone run in that otherwise
appalling 11-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.
SO
HERE’S HOPING that Kristopher Bryant, who gives us the most offbeat Cubs name
spelling since “Ryne Sandberg”), does manage to accomplish something of
significance. It would be nice if Cubs fans would finally shut up with their
whiny routine about how we’re all supposed to feel sorry for them and think
they’re special because their team hasn’t won a thing since back when V-J Day
was fresh in the newspapers.
Although
if you really want to see the best ballplayer in Chicago, you have to make the
trip to U.S. Cellular Field – where Abreu has his 5 home runs this season
(second in the league to 8 for Seattle’s Nelson Cruz), along with 12 runs batted in,
7 runs scored and .291 batting average.
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