Welcome to the Kris Bryant MVP candidacy folks. I mean…
.@KrisBryant_23: 5-for-5, 2 doubles, 3 HR, 6 RBIs … https://t.co/TgbsTn016B #ThrillOfTheGame
— MLB (@MLB) June 28, 2016
- Kris Bryant
- … … … … … …
That is the list of players to rock three home runs and two doubles in a game. In fact, when the Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant went five for five with five extra base hits in Monday night’s game, he became the first Cubs player to do so since George Core in 1885.
Kris Bryant: first #Cubs player with 5 XBH in game since George Gore 7/9/1885. Gore's box score (Chicago Tribune): pic.twitter.com/9XoFTMbvB0
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) June 28, 2016
That isn’t the only historic feat, as Kris also become the first player in history to hit three homers while playing three multiple positions.
Kris Bryant is also the only player in last 100 years to hit 3 HR and play 3 different positions in the same game pic.twitter.com/tSddsvZStc
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 28, 2016
Earlier in the month I brought to you the Ryne Sandberg game, mentioned how that game propelled Ryne to the NL MVP in 1984. Could this game propel Bryant to the same?
If Cubs get back on track, maybe we'll call this the Kris Bryant game. Not as dramatic as Sandberg, but he would not let them lose today.
— Cubs Den (@CubsDen) June 28, 2016
Now the circumstances are different – nationally televised game against the team’s biggest rival for Ryno, mundane Monday night in Cincinnati for Kris. While Bryant had been known since he was a young teen in Las Vegas, dropping bombs alongside the Washington Nationals Bryce Harper, Sandberg seemed to become known just after that game.
Kris Bryant laying down a legitimate claim for NL MVP
— FullCountTommy (@FullCountTommy) June 28, 2016
Before the season I believed this would be Bryant’s teammate, and baseball best friend, Anthony Rizzo’s time for a MVP award. With his progression, and now with a championship caliber team, it made sense that Rizzo made a run to be the best in the National League. Now I thought Bryant could someday put his name in the conversation, I wasn’t sold on that someday being in 2016.
But here we stand, almost July and where would the Cubs be without Bryant? Currently Kris owns a .278/.367/.567 slash line and leads the team with 21 home runs and 57 RBI. But he hasn’t just been an MVP at the plate. Bryant has played third base, shortstop, first base, left field, center field, and right field this season.
Bryant is now second in baseball in home runs (trails Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo with 22 HR), and fifth in the major’s in RBI. There are only two players with a higher WAR in the NL, Clayton Kershaw and Nolan Arenado. He is doing the things in the categories that typical MVP players do things – HR, RBI, WAR. But most of all, he’s showing he is the best player on the best team in the league (apologies San Francisco and Texas).
He has the pedigree, the stats. He has tge name recognition, and may have just had a signature game. Welcome to the Kris Bryant MVP candidacy folks.
