Chicago Cubs: Chris Coghlan compares Bryant and Stanton

Chicago Cubs’ Chris Coghlan is one lucky guy to be in the right place at the right time. How many other players can say that they were present to see two big time prospects both make their Major League Debut in person and play with them as well.

Well, Coghlan can and he did in an interview that Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Tony Andracki wrote about. 

Coghlan – who started out with the Florida Marlins and won the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year award – was around all the hype that surrounded Giancarlo Stanton (at the time he was known as Mike) who made a name for himself with his minor league home runs – a lot like Kris Bryant. But Coghlan points out that Bryant’s debut seemed like a much bigger deal.

Although Stanton is only 25, he’s been in the big leagues for five seasons – making his debut in the middle of the 2010 season. A lot has changed in five years – with social media and everyone having the news whenever and wherever they want – it was easier to avoid the media frenzy and attention that can surround a major news story.

In baseball, both Stanton’s and Bryant’s debuts were big deals.

As soon as the news broke that Bryant was being called up – the Twitter world was on fire with tweets, hashtags, and memes, all showing their excitement of the breaking news. It wasn’t long before #KrisBryantDay was trending across the country and Bryant fever was in full swing.

"“When Stanton came up, it was a huge deal. It was like, ‘Hey, this dude hit 40-something homers, same thing as Kris. But when Kris came up, it was like a whole different planet. I mean, he’s on ESPN and everywhere. So he has to deal with a lot of those pressures.” Chris Coghlan – via Tony Andracki csnchicago.com"

Even if the comparisons right now are only for the hype surrounding the two player’s debuts and their home run totals while in the minor leagues – Cubs fans probably would be happy with having Bryant’s success follow that of Stanton’s – a 158 bombs over 650 games isn’t too shabby of a start to a career.

Next: Which reliever will replace Brian Schlitter?