Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
It took him longer than most people thought (92 plate appearances to be exact), but Chicago Cubs rookie phenom Kris Bryant has finally hit his first career home run. The three-run shot gave the North Siders a 3-2 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers and marked the first of many long balls Cubs fans are going to see from Bryant.
The reason it’s so surprising it took Bryant this long to hit a home run is that his power numbers in the minor leagues have been out of this world. He hit 43 homers while driving in 110 runs last season. However, it makes sense why he hadn’t hit a home run yet. Opposing pitchers weren’t attacking him, but rather throwing off-speed pitches and pitching around him.
That’s part of the reason Bryant has already drawn 17 walks in his young career. His patience at the plate is going to force pitchers to come right at him rather than pitch around him, and that’s not good news for the rest of the league. With better pitches to hit, Bryant’s power is going to come and it’s going to develop pretty quickly.
Now that he has hit his first major league dinger, the floodgates could open up on his power. Of course, that’s not a guarantee, but once you get the first one, it often seems easier to hit more long balls.
Through his patience and ability to drive in runs even without hitting it out of the ballpark, Bryant has proven he will be an elite hitter sooner rather than later. If he starts adding the long ball to the fold, which it seems like he’s going to, he could be on his way to a special season and special career with the Cubs.
