RADIO
The North Side's Savior?
When called up, Kris Bryant will become at least the 25th different third basemen to play for the Chicago Cubs since the year 2000. The regime of Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein have made the moves necessary (trade of Luis Valbuena) to open up the hot corner for Bryant. However, Hoyer recently stated, "when we think Kris is ready to come up to the big leagues, we’ll make that decision." This is baseball talk for, "we're going to manipulate his service clock so we gain another season of club control."
Major league baseball has a rule that a player must have 172 days of service time on a major league roster for it to count as a season. Since teams control their players for their first six seasons, waiting roughly 2 weeks to bring Bryant up will allow the Cubs to control him through the 2021 season.
Ok, enough of the will he or won’t he make opening day roster talk. He hasn't played an inning of a major league game yet. Why so much attention?
Bryant has won every award along the way including Baseball America’s 2014 Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .325 with 43 HR and 110 RBI. The 43 HR are the most by a Player of the Year winner since Ron Kittle blasted 50 home runs in 1982. Bryant had the most RBI since Eric Chavez in 1998. This is just a snapshot of his accomplishments. Bryant also won the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser trophies the year before in 2013 for Player of the Year in college baseball. He also earned the Arizona Fall League Player of the Year in 2013.
Bryant is ranked atop (1 or 2) of every prospect list and has nothing left to prove in the minor leagues. Translating that success to the big league level is hard to do and even harder to predict. Bryant does have a couple of downfalls as he has a high 26.6 percent strikeout rate in his minor league career. A .401 BABIP suggest regression will occur at the major league level. His strikeout rate may increase in the majors while his BABIP will surely plunge.
Bryant has adjusted to every level of pitching he has faced. If he does struggle at the onset, be confident that he will make the necessary adjustments and continue to rake. Bryant does this by hitting to all fields with an ability to hit for power to right field which is shown via MLBfarm.com"
When should I pull the trigger in the draft?
In early NFBC drafts, Bryant has an ADP of 102 and has been the 10th third baseman drafted. I took part in a mock draft (link to draft board) representing RotoBaller that was ran by Fantasy Alarm’s Howard Bender. Bryant was taken with the third pick in the 16th round of a 12 team league by none other than Bender.
That is a steal at that pick. It could have been because it was an early season mock or maybe others forgot about him. If there is a way to grab Bryant with the 183rd pick in your league, do it without hesitation. I would feel comfortable getting him anywhere between 120 and 150th pick in a re-draft league. I’d grab him earlier if it was a keeper or dynasty league.
What to expect?
Steamer projections for Bryant include a .261 AVG with 21 HR, 56 RBI, 52 R and 6 SB. This would put him on par with George Springer’s 2014 season with better average. If Bryant gets the call at end of April or the latest beginning of May, I think he can out perform these projections. Look for Mike Olt and Tommy LaStella to hold down the hot corner until the Cubs can own Bryant for an extra season. Once he's called, expect good things.
My 2015 Projection-23 HR, 68 RBI, 60 R, 5 SB, .260 AVG
