Chicago Cubs: Is this the real Kris Bryant?
Since winning the MVP award in 2016, Kris Bryant’s play has regressed over the past two seasons. Is this cause for concern for the Chicago Cubs?
Kris Bryant has accomplished plenty already during his 4-year career with the Chicago Cubs. From being named the top NL Rookie in 2015, to cruising along to receive a highly coveted MVP award in 2016, there’s little reason for fans to be disappointed with his overall performance to date.
Of course, when you’re a two-time all-star who’s accomplished all this notoriety in such a short period of time, more is to be expected. Expectations rise for great players to continue performing at a high level year after year. Bryant is not the exception to this concept.
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While Bryant has played decent over the past season and a half since mashing a career-best 39 home-runs in 2016, his performance since has gradually dipped in two notable areas.
For starters, where has all of Bryant’s power gone? In 217 games played since 2016, he’s hit 38 home-runs. Not terrible results, but considering he hit 39 homers in 155 games played in 2016, this steep decline in power is noteworthy.
Players typically get better with more seasons under their belt. Furthermore, with players hitting more home-runs than ever now, it’s even more alarming that Bryant’s home-run rate continues to plummet.
Consider this: in 2016, Bryant hit a home-run every 15.5 at-bats, good for 4th best in all of baseball that season. In 2017, the number of at-bats per home-run increased to 18.9. This season, that number is currently sitting at 29.3 at-bats per home-run.
Granted, supporters of Bryant may argue that his injured shoulder is to blame for his lack of power this season. While nagging injuries can hamper the performances of even the greatest players, Bryant should not use this as an excuse.
Players in any sport will lay out all sorts of excuses to justify poor performance in order to save face. If Bryant was simply playing through shoulder pain for the past month, why all of a sudden speak out about it when in the midst a pro-longed slump?
Every athlete deserves credit for playing hurt, no doubt. But last checked, Bryant was pretty healthy in 2017 when he experienced a dip in power, playing in 151 regular season games plus postseason action.
Hitting for power alone doesn’t make a player stand out among his peers. Situational hitting is just as important. This is another notable area where Bryant has seen a dip in performance over the past two seasons.
In 2016, Bryant hit .263 with runners in scoring position. That number has since plummeted to .247 over the past two seasons.
Simply put, Bryant is not coming through enough in pivotal situations for the Cubs. The truly great players, more times than not, find a way to get the job done. In this case, driving in runners from scoring position on a more consistent basis.
Maybe this is now who Bryant is as a player. Solid at best, yet unspectacular. One who will continue to be a tremendous asset on any team, given his above-average contact rate, plate discipline, and defense.
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Unfortunately, Bryant hasn’t turned out to be the player fans everywhere expected to watch on a regular basis. A 40-plus home-run hitter who drives in a ton of runs. All while collecting possibly a few more pieces of hardware to his name.
Too bad that seems like a pipe dream at this point in time.