Chicago Cubs: 5 bold predictions for second half of season
By Ryan Sikes
1. Kris Bryant has a monster second half
A while back, I predicted that Chicago Cubs third baseman, Kris Bryant, would be a starter in the 2019 All-Star Game. That won’t be happening, but Javier Baez and Willson Contreras will be starting.
Kris Bryant, despite having a 0.926 OPS with 16 home runs and 41 RBI’s has been awful with runners-in-scoring-position (RISP), batting just 0.200 in such scenarios. For reference, he batted 0.273 with RISP last season, 0.237 in 2017, and 0.263 in 2016.
He’s on pace to ground into nearly 11 double plays, which would be a new career-high for him since grounding into 7 of them during his rookie campaign. I’m a big believer in players returning to the career averages which would put his batting average RISP somewhere near 0.260.
Obviously, if he’s converting more chances with runners on, the double plays should theoretically decrease as well. Bryant smacked a home run on Opening Day but then didn’t do so again until April 26.
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He’s still batting a healthy 0.285 with a 0.395 OBP. I would expect that he and Cubs hitting coach Anthony Iapoce utilize a portion of the All-Star to make the necessary adjustments. Look for Kris Bryant to have a big second half.