Chicago Cubs: 3 players who need to step up in Contreras’ absence

2. Kris Bryant has a 98 wRC+ in the second half and needs to be a consistent run producer.

Kris Bryant has batted just 0.247 in the second half for the Chicago Cubs after batting 0.297 in the first half. He has 21 home runs on the season but is batting just 0.208 in high leverage situations. His numbers look good on paper but taking a closer look at them, he’s a far-cry from the player he was in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Last season, he really struggled to play through a shoulder injury and got off to a really slow start this season, despite homering on Opening Day.

Looking back to his 2015 season, Bryant batted 0.299 in high leverage situations which means with guys in base and in scoring position but he just has not been that guy this season. Like I said, his numbers, particularly his OPS look great on paper but they are isolated events.

Bryant needs to be the a consistent run producer like he was earlier on in his career but hasn’t proved to be that guy this season. It might benefit him to move down in the order for the same reasons why it worked for Schwarber. Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez can do fine as the 3 and 4 hitters.

He’s recently dealt with some lingering knee issues but it doesn’t appear to be serious. Bryant needs to start producing, especially with Contreras out for the next month.