One of baseball's top prospects Kris Bryant is set to make his major league debut as the Chicago Cubs call up the promising young slugger Friday, originally reported by ESPN's Jesse Rogers.
Mike Olt's move to the disabled list after a hairline fracture in his wrist paved the way for Bryant's move, Rogers said.
Most call-ups do not generate the same amount of buzz surrounding the 23-year-old third baseman's promotion. The news has Cubs fans anxious leading up to the team's day game against the San Diego Padres.
The University of San Diego product hit the ground running in 2014, earning Minor League Player of the Year honors from both USA Today and Baseball America.
Bryant started the year in Double-A with a .355 batting average adding 22 home runs and 58 RBI in 68 games before moving up the latter. For the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, he racked 21 more home runs and 52 RBI with a .295 average in 70 games, according to milb.com.
This performance excited scouts and moved Bryant up reporters' lists of potential stars. ESPN Insider Keith Law ranked the Nevada native as his top overall prospect heading into the 2015 season.
The hype continued this spring as the 6'5" third baseman led both the Grapefruit and Cactus League in home runs with nine home runs, including this two-run bomb against the Angels.
Following a phenomenal 2014 season and showing promise in spring training, why did Bryant find himself on the outside looking in at the Cubs' Opening Day roster? The answer: a bazaar rule in Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement.
The rule states that a player needs to be on a MLB roster for 172 days of the 183-day season for it to qualify as a season of service. If the player is on the roster for less time, then the team gets an additional year at the end of the player's contract.
The decision to call up Bryant now is not only due to the injury needs, as Friday marks the 171th day of the season, qualifying the Cubs for this loophole. Experts around the country, including Yahoo Sports national baseball writer Tim Brown, think the timing of the promotion is predictably convenient.
Bryant thought he deserved a call-up toward the end of the 2014 season and talked to Rogers back in September about his opinion on the contract manipulation in MLB.
It's kind of funny, all the rules. Coming into professional baseball, I had no clue. I didn't pay any attention to it in college, either. At the end of my first season, I kind of know the lingo about all this stuff. I guess the system works in some ways, and in some ways there are some flaws. I can't focus on that. I've always been high on avoiding the distractions.
Bryant continued to ignore distractions and make it tough for the Chicago front office to deny the young talent a call-up with his play this season in Iowa. He hit his third dinger of the early season Thursday night to go along with his .321 batting average before finding out about his promotion.
Not only Cubs supporters, but also baseball fanatics across the country, will watch with anticipation as Bryant steps into the batter's box for the first time against the Padres.
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