Friendships Come and Go, and So Do Kris Bryants

If you will have any sense in any respect, you in all probability deactivated your Facebook account years in the past, and thus liberated your self from figuring out intimate particulars about your distant family, schoolmates, and outdated co-workers. In this case, it’s however useful in case your companion, or an in depth good friend, stays plugged in. All the extra so in the event that they’re an inveterate gossip. Because even in case you don’t need the fireplace hose of data, a bit splash of water now and again is refreshing.

Your second cousin as soon as eliminated? Getting divorced for the third time, and getting actually into NFTs a few 12 months too late. The woman you requested (unsuccessfully) to junior promenade? Just received an area Emmy for her work as a TV meteorologist. Booger from the gross sales division at your first job out of faculty? Newly ordained as a deacon at his church. Good for you, Booger.

As we undergo life, we accumulate individuals in response to time and context. A really small proportion of these stick and grow to be lifelong buddies; most drift away when circumstances change. Even people who find themselves vitally essential at one time — even roommates, romantic companions, confidants — float away eventually, to get replaced by another individual extra appropriate to the brand new social context.

Some would possibly see this as a chilly, misanthropic means of relationships, however I discover fairly the alternative. There’s one thing stunning about the concept that an opportunity encounter can result in a relationship that shapes the remainder of your life. And simply because a friendship is non permanent doesn’t diminish its significance. We all know the pang of poignancy that comes with serious about somebody for the primary time in 5 years after not having spoken to them in 15.

This individual was significant to me as soon as, you would possibly assume because the trace of a smile wrinkles the nook of your mouth. Then they graduated, or moved away, or — in Kris Bryant’s case — signed with the Colorado Rockies.

Bryant is a type of gamers who seemingly got here to the majors absolutely shaped. He was one of the best participant on the Cubs at a time when the Cubs have been essentially the most mentioned staff within the majors. In his first three seasons, he posted a fair 20 WAR, received Rookie of the Year and MVP, assisted on the final out of the Cubs’ first World Series title in 108 years, and went to the NLCS two different instances.

Back then, the ebook on Bryant was energy. That was his carrying instrument as a prospect; as a school junior, he hit 31 house runs in 62 video games and slugged .820, and this within the bizarre transitional interval after the NCAA launched BBCOR bats to restrain offense, however earlier than the NCAA began to grapple with the actual fact they’d turned the clock again to 1968.

Bryant hit 39 house runs in his MVP 12 months, although his finest alternative to showcase his uncooked energy — the 2015 Home Run Derby — was squandered when he selected his dad as his BP pitcher. It’s prime time, buddy. If you’re in it to win it, you’ll purchase your outdated man a scorching canine and a beer and let Dave Jauss or Ramon Henderson carry you to victory.

The different factor Bryant was identified for was positional flexibility, although I don’t know if that speaks to one thing particular about his skills as a participant. Mostly it looks as if Joe Maddon switched his defensive lineup round a lot he made John McGraw seem like Charlie Manuel, and Bryant was significantly down for no matter throughout that interval in his profession. He’d play extra at third base than anyplace else, however he’d additionally begin usually in each outfield corners, and sometimes at first base and in middle subject. Bryant even has two profession appearances at shortstop.

So when Bryant signed with the Rockies, it wasn’t instantly clear why a participant who’d loved a lot staff success — not simply with the Cubs, however throughout his visitor starring function with the 2021 Giants — would need to spend the remainder of his profession with a staff that had been uncompetitive the 2 seasons prior and was headed within the improper course.

It was, nevertheless, blindingly apparent what Bryant may do for Colorado. He was an influence hitter sure for Coors Field, and a participant with expertise at a number of positions — third base, first base, middle subject, left subject — at which the Rockies had dire want of assist.

The finest method to describe the Rockies’ infield scenario goes to sound a bit nuts. For about 15 years, that they had a giant, right-handed, power-hitting shortstop: First Troy Tulowitzki, then Trevor Story. And for a lot of that point, Nolan Arenado had third base locked down. Arenado, in fact, was traded to St. Louis the offseason earlier than Colorado signed Bryant.

After that — and I acknowledge I’m going out on a limb right here — Rockies infielders type of have that University of Wisconsin quarterback face-blindness factor going. Like, aside from Russell Wilson, who’s his personal factor, each Badgers quarterback since Jim Sorgi has simply been a unique regeneration of Jim Sorgi. Like in Doctor Who. It doesn’t assist that they’ve comparable names. Jim Sorgi, John Stocco, Joel Stave. Scott Tolzien is similar man however with completely different initials. Alex Hornibrook is Mirror Universe Jim Sorgi as a result of he’s left-handed.

Anyway, each Rockies infielder aside from Tulo, Story, and Arenado is a unique reincarnation of Clint Barmes. Or Ian Stewart, in the event that they hit left-handed. I knew, intellectually, that DJ LeMahieu wasn’t simply Garrett Atkins in platform footwear, however I didn’t actually 100% imagine it till he went to the Yankees. Each has barely completely different presents, so if Wisconsin QBs are all The Doctor, Rockies infielders are the completely different multiverse Spider-Mans. (Spiders-Man? Spider-Men?)

The level is, the Rockies signed a star third baseman with the power to play far and wide and a giant popularity as an influence hitter, and now he’s taking part in solely within the outfield corners and he’s not hitting for energy anymore.

There are three issues to learn about Bryant’s energy. First, Bryant obtained a little bit of a nasty rap as a swing-and-miss man as a result of he led the league in strikeouts as a rookie, however since then he’s by no means actually been a hacker. He’s posted a strikeout fee over 25% twice: His rookie 12 months, and 2020, which was principally a write-off. He has a decrease profession Okay% than Ian Happ or Ronald Acuña Jr.

Conversely, Bryant’s MVP season is the one time he’s slugged greater than .550 — the one time he’s completed within the prime 10 within the NL in SLG — and considered one of simply two 30-homer seasons in his profession. In 2017, when he was a 7-WAR participant, he hit 29 house runs and struck out in 19.2% of his plate appearances.

Second, it’s honest to think about how time and accidents have modified Bryant as a participant. He’s 31 now, and has had two of the previous three seasons (2020 and 2022) principally nuked by accidents. Most Millennials get up within the morning with new and unexplained aches and pains — why would Bryant be any completely different?

With that stated, right here’s the distinction in Bryant’s offensive manufacturing between his prime with the Cubs and his temporary time with the Rockies. Because the third issue entails him truly hitting the ball otherwise throughout his time in Colorado:

What this appears to be like like is a extra aggressive however contact-friendly method that preserves OBP on the expense of energy. Bryant’s contact and plate self-discipline numbers various fairly a bit year-to-year, however taking his prime and evaluating it to what he’s doing now, just one change jumps out:

Yes, he’s swinging at pitches out of the zone rather less, however the distinction between 29.7% and 27.9% is the distinction between 93rd and one hundred and fifteenth on this 12 months’s leaderboard. He’s at all times had fairly good strike zone judgment. The large distinction is that Bryant is making heaps extra contact, particularly inside the strike zone. His prime Z-Contact% would’ve put him within the backside fifth of the league; his numbers with the Rockies are above common.

If Bryant have been simply making extra contact and hitting for a similar type of energy he was in Chicago, that’d be unimaginable. But he’s making…not unhealthy contact essentially, simply completely different:

Surprise, shock, Bryant’s energy numbers are down as a result of he isn’t hitting the ball as arduous, even on the extremes. For his profession, he has 23 batted balls with an exit velocity of 110 mph or higher; each single considered one of them is from 2015 to 2021. He is hitting an absolute buttload of line drives — Bryant is at the moment sixth within the majors in line drive fee. But on the whole, he’s hitting the ball softer and at decrease trajectories than he was in Chicago.

Now, by way of precise taking part in time, Bryant has solely spent about half a season in Colorado, unfold out over greater than a 12 months in actual time. But the small pattern caveat is the one motive to not assume this can be a deliberate adjustment on Bryant’s half. The distinction in in-zone contact fee and speak to high quality is just too large to disregard.

Does this imply Bryant is cooked? Far from it. For large hitters with plus-plus uncooked energy getting into their 30s, the worry is usually that the bat pace will wane and the entire basis of their offensive productiveness will collapse like a bookshelf screwed into the drywall and never the studs. When he’s been on the sector in Colorado, Bryant’s posted an OBP of .378, which is, like, superior. And he’s nonetheless placing up good energy numbers, simply not what you’d count on from a former MVP taking part in at altitude.

Good hitters can reinvent themselves as their talent set evolves. How many variations of Joey Votto have we gone by way of through the years? Maybe Bryant is simply discovering a brand new relationship with hitting to swimsuit this part of his life.