BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…July 26, 2013:
Kris Bryant, making his home debut as the highest-drafted player ever to suit up for the Boise Hawks, smashes his first professional home run, a three-run shot that keyed a 9-1 victory over the Spokane Indians. Bryant then launched a two-run homer two nights later. There were doubts that Bryant would end up in Boise when the Chicago Cubs took the University of San Diego third baseman with the second overall pick in the MLB Draft. After topping college baseball that spring with 31 home runs, he seemed to be on a higher trajectory.
But after two games with the Cubs’ rookie league team Arizona, Bryant was assigned to the Hawks. He was not an instant sensation here, though. In his Hawks debut on July 13, he went 0-for-5 and struck out all five times. After six games, Bryant’s batting average was just .174 despite those first two homers. Then things took off. Bryant would hit .354 in 18 games with the Hawks before being promoted and starting his climb up the Cubs farm system at Daytona. In 2014, he was named Minor League Player of the Year.
Bryant tore it up in spring training for the Cubs in 2015, hitting an MLB-leading nine home runs and batting .425. But alas, the team sent him to down to Triple-A Iowa to start the season. The move was seen as a way for the Cubs to work the system and keep Bryant under contract for an extra year by having him spend 12 days in the minors. Once he was called up late that April, Bryant was more than ready for the bigs. He went on to earn National League Rookie of the Year honors, batting .276 with 26 home runs. Bryant also knocked in 99 runs, the most by a rookie since Albert Pujols in 2001.
We all know what happened with the Cubs in 2016: a World Series championship for the first time in 108 years. And Bryant led the way as NL Most Valuable Player. He continued to star in Chicago until the 2021 trade deadline—by that time, the Cubs were sellers, and Bryant was dealt to the San Francisco Giants. It looked like a good fit at the outset, but Bryant left prior to the 2022 season, signing a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Colorado Rockies. It has not gone well.
Bryant has been injury-prone since heading for Denver, and his contract has been widely panned. Meanwhile, Bryant has second-guessed his decision to go to the Rockies, who have not shown an ability to build and compete in the NL West. He’s been on the injured list seven times in 2½ years, leading Denver Post columnist Troy Renck to call his deal “the worst contract in baseball” last month. Bryant went 3-for-6 Wednesday in the Rockies' 20-7 rout of the Boston Red Sox, raising his season average to—are you ready?—exactly .200.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
