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

There has been so much written about Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant it’s a wonder these little fun facts haven’t gotten more attention.

If there is one Chicago Cub that has had plenty of press this season, it’s Kris Bryant. During the now-famous ‘Bryant grievance hearings,’ sportswriters combed over every part of the young super star’s rise to fame and glory.  Why am I telling you all of this? It’s not easy to uncover anything new about Chicago’s young, most written about MVP. Bryant die-hard fans will most likely know all of these, but for the every day Cub fan, here are a few cool Bryant fun things you may not have heard before.

Almost everyone knows about the close relationship Bryant has with his father, Mike Bryant. Kris never got to see his dad play professionally because Mike played in 1980-81, during which time the Boston Red Sox drafted him in the 9th round of the 1980 MLB June Amateur Draft from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, according to Baseball-Reference.

Kris wasn’t born until 1992, almost 10 years after Mike’s career ended. However, here’s the cool unknown fact: when Mike was a minor league player, he attended a couple of big-league camps during his spring training time. At that time, ‘The Kid,’ legendary ball-striker Ted Williams was making the rounds of these camps and coached Mike Bryant on hitting techniques. Kris told the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kirk Kenney back in his college days:

“His hitting coach was actually Ted Williams,” said Kris, “so he’s taught me a lot of what (Williams) taught him.”

It probably was just the type of student Williams was looking for: young, rookie and playing for the Red Sox. Although Mike Bryant never saw his personal dream manifest itself in his time on the field, he finally got to see his hard work come to fruition through his son Kris. If you’re ever wondering what the legacy of that fine-tuned Bryant swing is, now you know that it came in part, from one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, Ted Williams.

The swing that science analyzed before all others and led to the teaching of rotational mechanics is pound for pound Kris Bryant’s ancestor-swing from Red Sox legend, Ted Williams. Although I’ll bet Williams never had a training area like the one Bryant has set up in his house as we look at the following fun fact about Kris Bryant – his home practice area.

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.