Kris Bryant supplied the Chicago Cubs’ entire offensive payload yesterday with this shot in the first inning off of Tanner Roark:
It’s appropriate that the video leads off with an All-Star Game advertisement given how well Bryant has performed thus far. Among all third basemen, Bryant has the fourth highest wOBA (.384) and fifth highest wRC+ (142). In the NL, he’s behind only Matt Carpenter and Todd Frazier, with only about 20 fewer plate appearances, despite debuting later in the year.
And how about this? Bryant actually rates as the 15th best starting third baseman defensively in baseball (small sample size warning, but still).
In all of baseball, Bryant’s wRC+ is good for 28th. Among rookies, only Joc Pederson has had a better offensive start to the year, and the gap is shrinking every day.
Current status: young star.