Chicago Cubs: Quit with the Kris Bryant pessimism, Cubs fans

Despite winning the National League MVP just two years ago, Kris Bryant has drawn the ire of Chicago Cubs fans after an injury-riddled 2018 season.

A recurring shoulder injury forced Kris Bryant to miss 51 games over the course of two separate DL stints (amidst a litany of other small injuries). Though he returned to the Chicago Cubs lineup in September, he was merely a shell of the hitter fans watched the last three years.

Bryant hit just two home runs in September, en route to a .776 OPS in the month, both paltry statistics for a slugger of his caliber. He also struggled to keep up with fastballs up in the zone, striking out in 33 percent of his plate appearances in the final month. That trend carried into the postseason, as Bryant went down via the strikeout three times in the NL Wild Card game.

Injuries, frustrations and the emergence of David Bote have fans calling for Bryant to hit the trading block. In reality, this could not be a more irrational sentiment.

Chicago Cubs: First adversities for the Cubs star

Considering how maturely and eloquently Bryant has handled himself as a member of the organization, it is sometimes easy to forget that he is only 26 years old. His whole persona is built on consistency, from the influence of his father, Mike Bryant, to marrying his high school sweetheart.

His playing career has been no different. Bryant hardly missed a game at San Diego University, and missed just 21 games from 2015 to 17, establishing himself as an everyday superstar almost as soon as he was called up from Triple-A Iowa in April 2015.

This season, Bryant missed nearly three times the number of games as he had in the last three years combined. Likewise, Bryant was hit by a pitch 17 times this season, just one off of his 2016 total but in 242 fewer plate appearances. That takes a toll on a player not just physically, but psychologically, as well.

Take last year’s NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton, for example. In September 2014, Stanton was hit in the face by a pitch, causing him to miss the rest of the season. In late June 2015, he was hit by another pitch that led to a shattered wrist and ended his season. The 2016 season saw Stanton post career-lows in both batting average and on-base percentage while the slugger struck out in nearly 30 percent of his plate appearances.

But in 2017, Stanton posted one of the most historic seasons on record with 59 homers and 132 RBI while playing in a career-high 159 games, proving that injuries are merely an obstacle.

This is Bryant’s first real brush with adversity, but given his makeup and talent, there is no reason why he cannot respond in a similar fashion to Stanton and return to MVP form.

Chicago Cubs: Bote over Bryant? Get real

Many fans have become enamored with David Bote for his late-game heroics and knack for being a defensive stalwart at the hot corner. However, his talent level does not stack up to Kris Bryant.

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Last week, I wrote about Bote’s concerning deficiencies at the plate. For someone with as high a strikeout rate as Bote (28.6 percent), he has an alarmingly low isolated power number (.168) according to FanGraphs.

While Bryant’s shoulder injuries caused a dip in his isolated power this season, he posted a .262 and .242 average in that category in 2016 and 2017, respectively while simultaneously decreasing his strikeout rate.

Bryant is also superior to Bote in leveraged situations, according to Baseball-Reference.

And despite his struggles in the field this season, Bryant is hardly a slouch at the hot corner as evidenced by his positive defensive runs saved (DRS) margins in 2016 and 2017 and his 7.7 FanGraphs defensive value in 2016.

Bote is just one year younger than Bryant, so age is a non-factor. And, his pedigree and advanced metrics indicate, Bryant has far greater upside.

Chicago Cubs: A better version of KB? It’s possible

As Bryant prepares for his fifth big league season, he remains as poised as anyone to improve.

The young slugger reflected on his disappointment in his post-game interview after the Wild Card loss to the Rockies, but was notably humble and determined in his tone:

Does that sound like a player who might fail to bounce back? Hardly.

On the contrary, given everything Bryant went through last season paired with an offseason that will be filled with mechanical adjustments and strengthening his shoulder, Bryant may be in the best position of any Cub hitter to bust out.

Bryant posted a 20.7 fWAR from 2015-17, trailing just Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson in that span. That statistic alone should speak to the immense value Bryant brings to the franchise and ensures that his star power should return in the near future.

So relax, Cubs fans, this is only the beginning.