NEWSLETTER
Over the past week, Kris Bryant twice conceded that his previously-injured pinky was still bothering him. Still, although we’ve noticed a drop in his power since the injury, he hasn’t stopped getting on base at a ridiculous clip.
That continued in this weekend’s series win over the Diamondbacks in a serious way, and the power certainly showed up, too.
In the entire series, Bryant was retired twice. He had as many doubles as he made outs. He drew more walks than he made outs. He had three hits in EACH game in the series.
For the series, Bryant wound up going 9 for 11 with three walks, a HBP, two doubles, and a homer. Equally impressive, but in a dubious way: despite all that, Bryant scored just three times in the series, and the two today came when Bryant scored from second on a strikeout and when he homered. Yikes.
In the series, Bryant raised his OBP 15 points, his SLG 21 points, and his OPS 36 points. That’s a mid-August series, mind you.
The homer Bryant hit today was his first of the month, and it wasn’t a cheapy – it appears that Statcast wasn’t even able to track it:
Bonus, gotta love the in-crowd shot and sound:
Sweetest sound in sports! @cubs @KrisBryant_23 pic.twitter.com/8m0K1rFOA7
— SMS of Lake Havasu (@smslhc) August 13, 2017
On the year, Bryant is now up to .294/.405/.530, which is good for a 143 wRC+. Last year, the NL MVP hit .292/.385/.554 with a 149 wRC+. His power is down this year, but Bryant’s strikeout rate is now a ridiculously low 18.9%, pairing so well with his 14.3% walk rate. Both numbers are significantly better than last year, which were, in turn, significantly better than the year before.
Yes, Kris Bryant is becoming an even better hitter.
