By David Haugh-Contact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
February 24, 2016, 8:29 PM |MESA, Ariz.
On the day before Cubs hitting coach John Mallee left for spring training, he visited his father, a retired Chicago Police Department officer by the same name.
Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
One word comes to mind when I think of Chicago Cubs rookie of the year Kris Bryant: inevitable.
From his ascension to the big leagues to his success in the majors, there has simply been an inevitability to his career. When the Cubs drafted him No. 2 overall in 2013 there was a feeling they had chosen someone special, and in the coming months that notion became reality. Bryant hit everything he saw. And he hit it far. And he hasn’t stopped hitting.
By Mark Gonzales
Before youngsters Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kyle Schwarber connected on an array of impressive home runs in the playoffs, they began to absorb messages delivered by Cubs hitting coach John Mallee and assistants Eric Hinske and Manny Ramirez.
Their development was evident in the Cubs’ National League Division Series conquest of the rival Cardinals.
by Mark Gonzales
Chicago Tribune
For all the accolades Kris Bryant has received in his amateur and minor-league career, the Cubs rookie slugger points to one of his professional failures as a turning point.
“July was one of my worst months as a baseball player,” Bryant said. “Looking back on it, it’s the best thing to happen to me this year.”
By John Jackson
CHICAGO — Like he has after each of his 23 home runs this season, Kris Bryant simply dropped his bat and began circling the bases.
The fact that this blast banged high off the new huge scoreboard at the back of the left-field bleachers at Wrigley Field didn’t seem to matter much to him. Really, the Chicago Cubs rookie slugger probably watched less of this particular home run because there was never any doubt it had the distance to leave the playing field.