After 12 days in Triple-A, Kris Bryant made his much-anticipated debut for the Chicago Cubs on Friday. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2013 draft hit cleanup against the San Diego Padres but didn't fare well in his role with the bat, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Bryant did have a chance to play hero late in the game, with the Cubs trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh and runners on first and second, but he grounded out to third base to end the inning.
Even though it wasn't the debut most hoped Bryant would have—especially given how much hype this game received on television and the Internet—he's young, and there are growing pains for every player.
Before getting too far ahead of things, let's go back to before the game started. There was a brief period when he was the subject of the top two stories on MLB.com: his jersey being advertised for sale and his pregame press conference being streamed on the front page. Here's what Bryant had to say about living up to the pressure being put on him, courtesy of MLB's official Twitter account:
During warm-ups on the field, Bryant and his father shared an emotional embrace that was posted on Instagram by Peggy Kusinski of NBC Chicago:
A moment like that is what this day was really about. Bryant will have many great days as a professional ahead of him, but this was a 23-year-old kid playing in his first Major League Baseball game with his family in the stands watching.
Cubs fans made sure to give Bryant a welcome befitting a player with this much hype before his first at-bat in the first inning. James Shields subsequently struck him out on three pitches.
In fact, in Bryant's first two at-bats, Shields had a clear plan of attack once he got to two strikes, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:
What the world seemed to forget, which was pointed out by Dave Cameron of FanGraphs, is that Shields has been a successful MLB pitcher for a reason:
Bryant's propensity to swing and miss did bring out the sarcasm on Twitter. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson related to the Cubs star's struggles:
Matt Sussman of Baseball Prospectus joked about the correlation between Bryant's whiffs and the wind speed in Chicago:
There's no word on whether that total comprises Bryant's bat speed and the collective sighs coming from fans at Wrigley Field, knowing the franchise savior did not have the greatest debut in history.
Back in the real world, it's worth noting that strikeouts have always been a part of Bryant's game. Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com pointed out that the slugger's first game for the Boise Hawks in 2013 was also one to forget:
Bryant had 206 strikeouts in 648 career minor league at-bats, per MiLB.com, yet he still managed to hit .327/.426/.667 with 55 home runs in what essentially amounts to a full MLB season's worth of at-bats.
Even though the offense wasn't working for Bryant on Friday, he did make some nice defensive plays. His first opportunity came in the first inning, when he started a double play, per MLB.com:
Bryant wasn't done flashing the leather, as he made a terrific diving stop to nab a liner off the bat of Derek Norris to end the top half of the fifth inning, per MLB GIFs on Twitter:
Before sending Bryant to Triple-A late in spring training, the Cubs said they wanted him to work on his defense, as noted by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. Those 12 days in Iowa appeared to pay huge dividends.
It would have been impossible for Bryant to match the hype in this one game. He certainly would have liked to do better and help the Cubs win, but baseball is a game of adjustments.
If you want an example of how hard baseball is, ESPN.com's David Schoenfield provided a good one on Twitter:
If a more modern name would be more substantial, Mike Trout didn't arrive in the big leagues as Mike Trout. He hit .220/.281/.390 in 40 games during the 2011 season and started 2012 in Triple-A before getting called up at the end of April.
The point is Bryant will be fine, but this is a humbling sport. Even the absolute best players have to change something with their swings or approaches.
Bryant will be a future star for the Cubs. There's too much talent for him to be anything less than that, but Friday was proof that even the best players go through a process before becoming superstars.
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