Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant was the “it” guy in Spring Training last year, but the Cubs kept him down in AAA to get an extra year of control. You can’t keep a good man down for long though.
Bryant came up and played 151 games with the Cubs. All he did was make the All-Star team and win the NL Rookie of the Year.
He hit 26 homers and had 99 RBI and an .858 OPS. His 99 RBI was fifth in the NL and ninth in the league in OPS+ The one weakness in Bryant’s game is that he strikes out too much. He led the NL with 199. His 30% K rate is a little higher than it was in the minors, so if he could bring that down who knows what he could do.
Bryant did pretty good work on defense as well to. He saved three runs at third and added another run saved in the outfield. Bryant is a pretty good athlete and Joe Maddon will use that versatility.
Bryant will continue to emerge as one of the best third baseman in the game. He’s already there, but he’s only the second best player out of Las Vegas on this list.
Next: 5. Manny Machado