As the former NL MVP hits the 60-day injured list to start the season for the Colorado Rockies, here’s a look back at what once looked like the beginning of a Hall of Fame-caliber career.
With many MLB players already in Florida and Arizona to prepare for spring training later this month, the Colorado Rockies made an expected announcement that still stings for many baseball fans.
Kris Bryant, a former NL MVP who signed a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Rockies ahead of the 2022 season, was placed on the 60-day injured list to start the season as he continues to deal with a degenerative back condition.
To say the injury has derailed Bryant’s career is an understatement, with many writers and fans in the baseball world crowning the deal as the worst in baseball history (which it’s not, because at least Kris enjoys playing baseball).
Bryant inked the deal with the Rockies after an All-Star campaign in 2021 split between his longtime home of the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants. The third baseman/outfielder was worth 3.3 WAR and posted a 124 OPS+ – hardly MVP production, but solid numbers in a season that appeared to be a bit of a return to form for Bryant.
Yet since joining the Rockies, Bryant has played just 170 games across four seasons, clocking in at -1.6 WAR with just 17 home runs and an 84 OPS+. Bryant played in just 11 games last season, with his last action of the year coming on April 12.
While he would not outright say it at this point, the writing is on the wall that Bryant’s playing days may be over, especially as his back condition has had a significant impact on his day-to-day life, let alone his baseball career.
Yet a decade ago, Bryant was a 24-year-old rising star, coming off of a Rookie of the Year campaign as the lead offensive weapon for a team that went on to win the World Series. KB’s sophomore effort appeared to legitimize the predictions of just how great Bryant could be – a player with Cooperstown potential.
It’s fair to think that many fans around baseball may have a different view of Bryant’s prime after seeing the unfortunate turns his career has taken since, but any fan of an NL Central team will tell you that he was no joke during his short prime as the Cubs’ third baseman.
His 2016 season remains an incredibly remarkable one – Bryant played in 155 games and amassed 7.3 WAR, launching 35 doubles and 39 home runs with 102 RBI and a .292/.385/.554/.939 slash line, good for a career-best 146 OPS+.
On top of leading a 103-win team to a division title and an eventual curse-breaking World Series, Bryant was a nearly unanimous NL MVP, earning 29 of 30 votes for the award as Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy nabbed the other vote on virtue of a career year.
While at the time, Bryant’s 2016 season looked like just the beginning of a storied career, it’s now looked back on as the unquestionable peak of a great opening act before injuries took center stage. With that said, Bryant’s greatness that season was simply undeniable.
Bryant’s splits were consistent, but showed some skew towards one direction, with the slugger being particularly lethal against left-handed pitching and on the road. Bryant posted a 1.060 OPS and 23 extra-base hits in 156 at-bats against southpaws, while slashing .308/.393/.587/.980 away from Wrigley Field with 22 of his 39 home runs.
The young third baseman was also particularly potent against division opponents, posting a batting average above .300 against all other NL Central teams besides the St. Louis Cardinals, with 19 of his 39 home runs coming against division rivals.
This included a historic performance in Cincinnati on June 27, known by some Cubs fans as the “Full House” game, owing to Len Kasper’s iconic call of Bryant’s third home run that evening. In an 11-8 win over the Reds, Bryant hit three home runs and two doubles alongside six RBI, making him one of just 16 players in MLB history to total five extra-base hits in a single game.
The emphatic win over the Reds came near the end of the first half of the season, which saw the Cubs scuffle just a bit before the All-Star break. Bryant was named an All-Star for the second straight year, owing to a great first half which saw him slash .286/.384/.578/.962 with 46 extra-base hits.
While Bryant’s power dropped off a little bit in the second half of the season, the 24-year-old hit for a higher average the rest of the way through the season, adding another 31 extra-base hits with a .299 batting average and .911 OPS.
His second half numbers were brought down a little bit by a tough September/October, which saw the slugger hit just .221 with a .671 OPS alongside eight extra-base hits and 12 RBI. This was offset by his best month of the season in August, when Bryant managed a 1.220 OPS and .472 OBP while going 41-for-107 throughout the month.
Bryant’s signature late-summer performance came in what ended up being an NLCS preview in Los Angeles, with the Cubs locked in a tight affair with the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. Trailing by two runs in the top of the eighth inning, Bryant took veteran reliever Joe Blanton deep to get the Cubs back within a run.
After a ninth-inning wild pitch with a runner on third base from Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen allowed the tying run to score, Bryant delivered once again in the 10th inning with a go-ahead two-run home run, paving the way to a 6-4 victory.
Despite an iffy September for Bryant personally, the Cubs cruised to a 17-10 record throughout the month, securing the division championship with two weeks left to go in the season and ultimately winning the NL Central by 17.5 games over the Cardinals.
Although the 2015 postseason was a bit of a mixed bag for Bryant, the MVP was formidable throughout October for the Cubs, beginning immediately with the National League Division Series against the Giants.
Bryant posted a .375 average in the four-game series, which included a ninth-inning, game-tying two-run home run in a Game 3 loss, showing off the clutch gene he had showcased throughout the regular season.
The production continued in the six-game NL Championship Series against the Dodgers, with Bryant going 7-for-23 with three doubles, providing a solid boost while teammates Javier Báez and Jon Lester shared the NLCS MVP award.
After a solid start to the postseason, Bryant and the Cubs’ stiffest challenge yet awaited, facing the pressure of the North Siders’ first appearance in the Fall Classic since their 1945 loss to the Detroit Tigers – two years before MLB’s color barrier fell.
The first four games of the World Series against the then-Cleveland Indians were far from ideal for the Cubs – sustaining shutout losses in Games 1 and 3 while also getting blown out in a 7-2 loss at Wrigley Field in Game 4. The North Siders did manage a 5-1 Game 2 victory in Cleveland to keep their hopes alive, though the Cubs had only amassed a single home run in those four contests – a solo shot from Dexter Fowler in the Game 4 loss.
Facing elimination in Game 5 down 3-1 in the series, the pressure was on Bryant and the Cubs to keep their season alive in the final game of the year at Wrigley Field, a game I was lucky and fortunate enough to attend.
You could a hear a pin drop in the Friendly Confines after the Cubs went down early, thanks to a second-inning solo shot from José Ramírez that made the pressure feel all the more apparent.
With the seemingly unhittable Andrew Miller looming in the bullpen behind Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer, the Cubs were facing a do-or-die moment in the game’s fourth inning as the heart of the order was due up against Bauer in what could have been the starter’s final inning.
Down 1-0 on a chilly night in Chicago, the league’s MVP did what MVPs do to start the inning.
The home run kickstarted a rally that resulted in two more Cubs runs, with closer Aroldis Chapman eventually shutting Cleveland down in what was an eight-out, 42-pitch save that saved the season for the Cubs and sent the Fall Classic back to Cleveland.
Bryant had more heroics in store once back in Northeast Ohio, starting with an absolute moonshot blasted with two outs in the first inning of Game 6 off of Josh Tomlin.
Though Tomlin was a pitch away from a 1-2-3 first inning, Bryant’s home run once again opened the door for two more Chicago runs to give the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. The advantage was broken open even further two innings later, when Addison Russell launched a back-breaking grand slam to give Chicago a 7-0 lead.
Bryant went on to tally three more hits in the contest, aiding the Cubs to a 9-3 victory that forced the necessity of a Game 7, a game with stakes truly impossible to replicate in North American professional sports given both clubs’ World Series droughts.
Though Bryant wasn’t the main character in the Cubs’ curse-breaking 8-7 victory in 10 innings, the MVP still played a pivotal role in multiple moments throughout Game 7. After a single to lead off the fourth inning with the game tied at 1 apiece, Bryant scored later in the frame on a relatively shallow flyball from Addison Russell, with timely baserunning putting the Cubs back on top before adding another run in the inning to take a 3-1 lead.
Bryant’s baserunning was a key factor his next time up at the plate after drawing a two-out walk the following inning with the Cubs up 4-1. Anthony Rizzo followed Bryant with a line drive base hit into right field, with Bryant somehow scoring all the way from first base thanks to a running start on the play to give Chicago a 5-1 advantage.
Bryant’s final at-bat of the season, while not heroic, was key in giving the Cubs what they needed to draw ahead in extra innings. After Kyle Schwarber followed a 17-minute rain delay with a leadoff single, the slugger was replaced by Albert Almora Jr. on the basepaths, who managed to tag up to second base on a flyout from Bryant.
Rizzo, the next hitter, was intentionally walked by Cleveland reliever Bryan Shaw, with Ben Zobrist making the Indians pay with a go-ahead RBI double on the next at-bat. Miguel Montero would add on with an RBI single of his own, and the Cubs managed to hang on to win their first World Series in 108 years.
Though it was Zobrist who was crowned World Series MVP, Bryant arguably was the Cubs’ most valuable player throughout all three series’, finishing the playoffs with a .308 batting average and .923 OPS with eight extra-base hits to fittingly cap off an MVP season.
Digging deeper into Bryant’s season, it’s easy to see how he was so consistent and valuable throughout the year. Bryant posted a career-best 11.7% barrel rate, which placed him in the 89th percentile across all of baseball, while ranking in the 95th percentile when it comes to total barrels.
While never known as a great defender, 2016 also represented the defensive peak of Bryant’s career, displaying value at third base and corner outfield positions to combine for seven outs above average, four of which came at the hot corner. The performance led to a 0.7 defensive WAR on the season – far from remarkable overall, but also a career-high mark for Bryant.
Unfortunately, it’s fair to think that many fans will remember Bryant for signing a misguided, bloated contract with a fledgling franchise before injuries derailed his career. Yet in Chicago, Bryant and many of the 2016 Cubs will forever be immortalized as the team that finally did it – breaking the curse and winning it all for countless fans who had waited their entire lives – and many more who lived long lives without ever seeing the Cubs crowned as champions.
What’s clear to me at least is that injuries did indeed derail his career – that Bryant’s unreal start to his career from 2015-17 was not smoke and mirrors, but rather a glimpse of what could have been possible if not for getting hurt.
If Kris Bryant’s playing days truly are over, talks surrounding the Rockies’ contract and ensuing lack of production are likely to dominate, while others will likely pose the same “what if?” questions that I just did.
For Cubs fans though, the most important “what if?” was answered by Bryant and the team a decade ago with an MVP campaign and World Series championship – unquestionably making him one of the franchise’s biggest heroes in its 156-year history. That will never change or be erased.
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