It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had an opportunity to bathe in the joy of a singular game that was so ridiculous it spawns an avalanche of videos, factoids, tidbits, and smiles.
Although there have been “better” offensive games, Kris Bryant is the only player in baseball history to record a three-homer, two-double game precisely. That’s awfully cool.
Bryant now has 21 homers on the year, tied for the National League lead with Nolan Arenado and Adam Duvall. He’s three ahead of teammate Anthony Rizzo, who also homered in the game. (Pfft, only once.) Mark Trumbo leads all of baseball at 22, but with two more games on deck for Kris Bryant at Great American Ballpark, that lead might not hold.
Those 16 total bases Bryant recorded (holy heavens) are a team record.
Heck, there hasn’t even been a Cubs player to have five extra-base hits of any kind in a single game since 1885!
Kris Bryant: 2nd player in #Cubs history with 5 Extra-Base hits in a game. First since George Gore July 9, 1885 (3 Doubles, 2 Triples)
The three-homer game was the first of Bryant’s career.
For the game, Bryant’s line reads 1.000/1.000/3.200, which is good for a 1.709 wOBA (LOL) and a 1041 wRC+ (ELL OH ELL).
Coming into the game, Bryant was hitting .265/.357/.520. After the game – a late June game, mind you – he’d jumped that baby all the way up to .278/.367/.567! His wRC+ climbed from 132 to 146. In one game! After 327 plate appearances! That’s insane!
His walk rate did drop from 10.6% to 10.4%, though, so you know. Be more patient, Kris.
His 132 wRC+ would have had him outside the top 30 in baseball coming into yesterday’s game. Now he’s 15th.
Bryant’s 3.9 WAR has him tied as the 5th most valuable position player in baseball. Everyone ahead of him is in the American League.
Yes, that is to say Bryant is your NL WAR leader right now by more than 10%, too: his 3.9 WAR tops Corey Seager’s 3.5. Bryant is on pace to approach a 9+ WAR season. Since 2010, there have been just five such seasons – three by Mike Trout, one by Bryce Harper (last year), and one by Jacoby Ellsbury (2011).[adinserter block=”2″]
Bryant’s wRC+ is currently 10 points higher than it was in his fantastic Rookie of the Year campaign despite a BABIP (.304) that’s 74 points lower than last year!
Should he stay blistering hot, Bryant has a chance to match his home run total from last year (26) by the All-Star break!
Bryant tore his pants early in the game, but he’s not going to stop wearing them after that one. So, expect to see him out there tonight with a nice hole in the seat of his trousers (Sun-Times).
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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NEWSLETTER
It seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had an opportunity to bathe in the joy of a singular game that was so ridiculous it spawns an avalanche of videos, factoids, tidbits, and smiles.
