Chicago Cubs: Three Kris Bryant fun facts you might not know

Chicago Cubs: Kris Bryant takes his work home

Bryant, of course, doesn’t have much choice these days with all the isolation and quarantining going on, and just like players from high school to the Show, he has to practice at home as Cubs Talk tweeted recently. These days, players know the value of setting up training right at home. At least that’s what my varsity high school 16-year-old conned me into when he got me to set up our home for his baseball training.

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I guess you could say I am fortunate to live in an all-year outdoor climate area very similar to Las Vegas like Bryant grew up in. There are some basics that you have to have to practice baseball in your home or if you’re interested in messing around with it during the national ‘stay at home’ order.

If you’re a pitcher, then you’re going to need an elevated mound and 60 feet, 6 inches of clear space to your plate, or pitching net. These days they sell nets that are broken up into quadrants so you can develop your pitching aim.

If your focus is crushing the ball like Bryant than you’re going to need space for that as well.  My son’s hitting cage had to go in our backyard because our garage didn’t have a ten-foot-high clearing in the ceiling area, which is optimal for setting up a practice cage. His cage is made out of plastic plumbing pipes and is about 12 feet high, and 12×12 all around. Bryant’s, of course, looks professional and custom.

So here’s the fun fact about Bryant: is that he converted what looks like his outdoor garage area into a practice area where he practices that MVP swing of his and crushes the ball. While I’m sure he has a pitching machine stashed somewhere on the property, Bryant has a pitchers practice net (which protects would-be pitchers from getting beamed with a line-drive), which allows a hitter to receive a live toss of the ball from a protected pitcher.

The rest of Bryant’s home-practice area is filled with Bryant bats (looks like a hundred) memorabilia from his career and awards earned. The last time I saw a video of the space, Bryant was playing a replay of the 2016 World Series on a television in the corner of the practice area while pitching some balls to his wife in the home batting cage.

What fans are looking forward to is a tour of this whole space by Bryant himself (hint-hint), so they can see all the goodies in the room! I’ve got a great idea! After the baby is born and needs to go for a nice walk to get to sleep, Bryant may just use that time to give us a tour with baby Mike (Kris’ dad’s name).

One of the coolest things Bryant likes to mention to teammates is a star-studded honor he received from his hometown.