John Mallee

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.

“I don’t watch my home runs,” Bryant said following the Cubs’ 6-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

“I don’t believe in that. I knew I hit it good. No reason to watch.”

Well, he probably was the only one at the ballpark not watching — no, make that gawking — at the solo shot that was estimated by ESPN Stats & Information to have traveled 467 feet.

“My goodness,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “I thought when he hit it, I said, ‘That might be the longest homer all year,’ and there it was. I think [467] is a misconception. It had to be farther than that, however they measure that. That thing was absolutely annihilated.”

Bryant’s blast wasn’t the longest of the season — that distinction goes to Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins who has a pair of 484-foot homers — but that did little to diminish the “wow” factor.

In years past, before the scoreboard was in place, Bryant’s ball would have easily cleared the bleachers. The angle probably would have taken it up Kenmore Avenue, a north-south street originating at Waveland Avenue beyond the left-field bleachers. During the record-setting 1998 season, Sammy Sosa hit a homer that reportedly landed on Kenmore several houses down from Waveland.

Cubs catcher Miguel Montero, the on-deck hitter, had a different vantage point. “Good thing the board was there,” Montero said. “Otherwise it would still be flying.”

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Bryant’s solo homer — which tied the score at 1-1 in the fifth inning — was it completely overshadowed a game-winning grand slam by Montero an inning later.

Even Montero seemed to prefer discussing the Bryant blast. “He hit that ball pretty good,” he said. “He’s pretty strong, right?”

The blast also overshadowed the improvements Bryant has made throughout the season working with hitting coach John Mallee and assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske. The three worked on making some adjustments to Bryant’s swing to allow him to be effective on a larger variety of pitches.

“It’s not just one thing,” Bryant said. “It’s just really minor adjustments that I had to make. I’m just trying to be more direct to the ball. I had too extreme of an upper cut. I’m trying to level out a little bit, make more hard contact and it’s been paying off for me.”

Indeed. His batting average is back up to .267 and he leads the team with 86 RBIs. In fact, he is tied with Billy Williams and Geovany Soto for the Cubs’ rookie RBI record. Bryant also is just two behind Williams’ rookie homer record.

“This year is kind of establishing a base line as to where I can learn and get better from and areas I can continue to improve on,” Bryant said. “In terms of my first season here, it’s been great. The team’s winning. It’s just been a lot of fun so far.”

Like all of his teammates, Bryant immediately turned his attention after Sunday’s game to the three-game road series against the National League Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals that begins Monday.

The Cubs trail the Cardinals by nine games, so it’s unrealistic to think they can overtake their rivals in the standings. But after going 1-6 in two previous trips to Busch Stadium, the Cubs just want to show the Cardinals they can win there.

“Yeah, absolutely, but you can’t really focus on them, you’ve got to focus on us, what we’re doing and that kind of thing,” Bryant said. “But we want to play the best and we want to beat the best. The Cardinals are the best right now, so it would be nice to go there and win some ballgames.”

When asked what the team’s feeling is going into the series, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks said, “A lot different than earlier in the year. I know Joe talked of getting over that hump with the Cardinals. Obviously, they’re having a hell of a year, but we go in there with a lot of confidence this time. We don’t question our abilities. We’re ready to take it right to them.”