CHICAGO -- On a gorgeous spring day at Wrigley Field, Kris Bryant walked out of the ancient home dugout and up onto the field, a cadre of cameras waiting for him at the lip to document every move for the nightly news.
Bryant didn't order the sunshine, but that's just how life seems to work out for him.
The ballpark was empty, aside from media, Chicago Cubs staffers and construction workers, and all eyes on the third baseman.
Kris Bryant, a budding superstar who gets the first and last name treatment, had finally arrived.
His cap was pulled low and a young man’s beard shrouded his face. He met with the media after batting practice and talked about the quick turnaround from hitting a three-run homer in New Orleans on Thursday to being the cleanup hitter for the first-place Cubs on Friday.
Well, they were tied for first place before Bryant struck out three times in a 5-4 loss to San Diego.
While everyone joked about him walking on water -- “I’m going to make that on Snapchat,” a TV producer said as she fiddled with her phone -- Bryant walked on the dirt in his spikes like everyone else. Of course, few -- if any -- other Cubs have a shoe deal.
While Bryant took batting practice -- he had some trouble with coach Henry Blanco's off-speed stuff -- the only distraction for reporters was his proud, chatty father, Mike, entertaining reporters with anecdotes about his son.
Bryant was told he made the big league roster by his Iowa manager, Marty Pevey, in New Orleans. When Bryant reached his dad, a former Red Sox farmhand, the two had a moment.
“My dad was crying,” Bryant said. “I’ve never seen my dad cry before.”
“My heart got heavy, I feel like I’m listening to a Tim McGraw or Justin Moore country song,” Mike Bryant said. “When they make you cry, that’s when you know they got you. And that’s the way I felt. This is a big country song for me.”
Mike Bryant asked reporters where he could pick up a No. 17 jersey -- which he reminded us, was his number first.
“I gotta get one,” he said, before considering his son’s wealth.
“He’s probably going to get me one. I’ll be patient this time.”
Outside expectations are oversized for the 6-foot-5 third baseman. Internally, the Cubs know he’ll have his ups and downs before everything clicks.
“I talked to him about that,” manager Joe Maddon said before the game. “I told him my expectations are you play hard and enjoy yourself. Part of it is my job to keep this whole thing simple.”
Bryant is a special player, but he’s human, as he showed by striking out all three times he faced Padres pitcher James Shields. I’m guessing New Orleans Zephyr pitchers don’t have Shields' changeup. Facing San Diego reliever Dale Thayer, Bryant grounded to third with two men on to end the seventh.
Cubs president Theo Epstein told the story of Bryant’s professional debut with short-season Boise before the game, and it was prophetic.
“[He went] 0-for-5 with five punchouts,” Epstein said. “We had to remind ourselves not to overreact to that, too.”
Epstein said he would’ve preferred for Bryant to make his debut on the road, as the Cubs did with Javier Baez and Jorge Soler last year, but with injuries to two infielders and service time no longer a problem, as of -- what do you know -- Friday, he believed this was the right time.
As opposed to, say, Monday in Pittsburgh.
“No, we wouldn’t have done it today,” Epstein said. “You script things out for a player’s development, try to figure out exactly what the last steps are in his development, when the exact right time is to debut. We like to do it on the road for prominent players who are going to get a lot of attention and have enough to deal with. We would’ve done it a little bit later, but you can’t script everything out in baseball.”
Makes sense. I mean, no one buys the crux of the argument, that Bryant needed any more development, let alone seven games. But that’s all in the past.
Asked what he got out of those seven games of development for Bryant, Epstein said he was happy Bryant went out on top, noting a “classic Kris Bryant swing” (can a 23-year-old have his own “classic swing?”) on a long fly out and that home run to end his minor league career.
“I’m glad we got to call him up today instead of yesterday because he had kind of a rough day at the plate a couple days ago,” Epstein said.
While the right-handed Bryant hit cleanup, making him the first Cub to do so since Heinz Becker during World War II and the first Chicago rookie since Jose Abreu last year, the Cubs just want Bryant to contribute to a winning team, not dominate it. Yet, anyway.
“I look forward to him just getting into a good rhythm, showing up and playing every day,” Epstein said. “Most important is winning the game.”
Yes, unlike when Anthony Rizzo came up in 2012 to similar attention, the games really count now. It was that 101-loss season that got the Cubs the second pick in the draft, which landed them Bryant.
Now that Bryant is here, with Soler, Rizzo, Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and all the rest, the days of salivating over high draft picks are over.
"I think the journey's just starting,” Bryant said before the game. “This isn't where I want to end. I want to win a lot of games and win for the Cubs. I think this is a good starting point."
