It’s one factor for the Cubs’ Kris Bryant to be slumping. It’s one other for him to be slumping whereas the Brewers’ Christian Yelich is setting the world on hearth.
There’s no means Bryant can cover his .230 batting common or his one lonesome house run. Not in Chicago. Not after his struggles final season. Not with a lot handwringing basically over What’s Wrong With the Cubs. And definitely not after the 39 house runs he hit in 2016.
But with Yelich hitting .353 and pounding 13 homers in his first 23 video games, the highlight educated on Bryant’s troubles feels prefer it’s powered by Niagara Falls. And the Cubs and Brewers being National League Central rivals turbo boosts the impulse to check. You can nearly hear a mom saying to her directionless son, “Why can’t you be extra like your brother?’’
Yelich leads the majors in house runs and runs batted in (31). He would have had a 14th homer Sunday if the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger hadn’t robbed him with an over-the-wall seize.
Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is off to a tough begin in 2019, hitting .230 with only one house run in 19 video games. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Bryant hasn’t had a house run because the Cubs’ opener March 28 in Texas. Three of his eight RBI this season got here in that sport. Since then, there was a variety of nothing. It’s exhausting to say “It’s early but’’ when temperatures in Chicago have climbed above 70.
Is Bryant’s left shoulder OK? Is he haunted by getting hit within the helmet by a pitch a yr in the past Monday? Those are reputable questions, although Bryant and the Cubs say neither is a matter. He missed 4 video games after the ball to the helmet, however the incident appeared to don’t have any impact on his manufacturing – he was hitting .319 with two house runs and 11 RBI earlier than he was hit and completed with a .272 common, 13 house runs and 52 RBI. His energy was missing even earlier than he bought hit within the head.
In an odd means, you’d nearly favor that final season’s shoulder irritation have been nonetheless the problem. At least that might clarify why Bryant’s energy numbers proceed to be so low. He mentioned he first bought damage on a headfirst slide in May final season. He went on the injured checklist in June and struggled after he got here again.
He continues to say that his shoulder is okay, which leaves us with little or no in the best way of passable solutions. It results in a lot of social-media dread, which isn’t good for anyone. It results in evaluating and contrasting, which is what we do in sports activities.
The distinction between what Bryant, the 2016 NL Most Valuable Player, is doing and what Yelich, the 2018 NL MVP, is doing is sufficient to make a Cubs fan sob in his or her favourite beverage. Both males picked up the place they left off final season, which is great for the Brewers and really a lot not so for the Cubs.
Anyone who has watched baseball lengthy sufficient can inform when a hitter is locked in on the plate. He appears like he can bash something. Right now, Yelich appears like he may hit a wiffle ball or a medication ball out of the park.
In the identical means, a veteran eye is aware of when somebody is slumping. That’s the case when concerning Bryant, who appears so uncomfortable on the plate he would possibly as nicely be on a blind date.
Why the eye on Bryant and never on Cubs teammate Anthony Rizzo, who’s hitting .197 with three house runs and 11 RBI in 20 video games? Because Rizzo is a streaky participant who goes by means of slumps like this yearly and nearly at all times extracts himself. At this level final season, he was hitting .171 with three house runs and 11 RBI and ended up with a .283 batting common, 25 homers and 101 RBI.
If he’s wholesome, Bryant will come out of the worst a part of this hunch. There’s an excessive amount of expertise there for him to not get the arrow pointed in one other path. But the truth that it has been so lengthy since he has been good is a priority. There’s no glossing over that, strive because the Cubs would possibly. His bat comes with its personal frost warning.
At least the schedule favors Bryant. At the Cubs Convention…