Cubs’ prospect Kris Bryant hits home run in AAA debut
By Mike Marteny
The South League Home Run Derby winner is picking up right where he left off after his promotion to the AAA Iowa Cubs earlier this week. Kris Bryant, the number two overall pick in the 2013 draft, took El Paso Chihuahua reliever Branch Kloess deep in the seventh inning for his first AAA home run.
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This was Bryant’s only hit on the evening in the 6-2 Cubs win.
Bryant is the first player of the 2013 draft to make it to the AAA level.
The popular belief is that Bryant will be called up if he does well for a couple of weeks at triple A. That is not always as easy as it may seem. Just ask another Cub top prospect, shortstop Javier Baez. Baez is hitting just .217 this season, but he does have 11 home runs.
This is another positive step for Bryant. He hit .336 with nine home runs last year between low A- and high-A ball. He dominated the Southern League this year, hitting .355 with 22 home runs in only 68 games with the Tennessee Smokies.
Incumbent Chicago Cub third baseman Luis Valbuena is having a nice year for the north-siders, hitting .284 with four home runs. He would likely slide to second base, displacing Darwin Barney if or when Bryant gets the call.
There is speculation among scouts that the Cubs will keep Bryant at Iowa the rest of the year, then break camp with him as the starting third baseman in 2015. If he hits at AAA like he did at AA though, he could force the Cubs’ hand.