The biggest single story of the early baseball season has been Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant. A top prospect and just 23 years old, Bryant certainly appeared to have done enough in spring training to earn a spot on the Cubs roster. However, Chicago chose to have Bryant start the season in the minor leagues, likely to delay the start of his service time for contractual reasons. Whatever the motivation behind his early demotion, Bryant is in the Windy City now and he is likely to make an immediate impact in the Cubs lineup.
Minor League Pedigree
Having played college baseball at the University of San Diego, the 23-year old Bryant has only played a total of 181 games at the minor league level. While that is a small sample of professional experience, the results have been nothing short of amazing. In those 181 games, he has hit 55 homeruns and driven in 152. He also showed impressive plate discipline, accumulating 99 walks along the way. All of that adds up to a minor league 
career OPS of 1.092. It doesn’t matter which numbers are used, the minor league career of Kris Bryant has been short but memorable.
Big Power
Power is the name of the game for Bryant, even though he sports an impressive .327 career minor league batting average. That power comes from a 6’5’’ frame, and it seems very likely that he will be able to continue producing power numbers even facing the best pitchers in the world at the major league level. Just four games into his major league career at this point, Bryant already has a pair of doubles to his credit, along with four walks and four RBI.
Big Name Infield in Chicago
Many baseball fans and writers are predicting big things for the Chicago Cubs in coming years, and much of that has to do with the names that now line up across their infield. Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Starlin Castro, and Kris Bryant are currently the starting infielders for the Cubs. Each is young, and each comes with a background as a high-profile prospect. If even three of these players is able to translate into a quality major leaguer, the Cubs will have one of the best infields in baseball. If all four are able to do it, Chicago may just have what it takes to break the longest title drought in sports.
