Video: Kris Bryant high school baseball highlightsCubs rookie makes debut batting cleanup on Friday.Kris Bryant attended
Bonanza (Las Vegas) High School, which seems rather fitting.
Besides perhaps Bryce Harper, there hasn't been a bigger, more ballyhooed or anticipated debut for a major league baseball player in recent history than that of the Cubs' new third baseman, who is batting cleanup against the Padres this afternoon.
Major League Baseball Network will cut into its coverage for all of his at-bats. Every fantasy geek will no doubt be doing the same. And baseball fans everywhere are wondering if the 6-foot-5, 220-pound 23-year-old can be the key cog to lift the league's oldest franchise from a 107-year championship drought.
He was hitting .321 at Triple-A Iowa with three home runs at the time of his call-up after a massive spring with the big club when he led the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues with nine home runs. He was the minor league player of the year in 2014 with 43 home runs, 110 RBIs and a .325 average split between Double-A and Triple-A.
He showed that same promise at Bonanza, hitting .447 in three varsity seasons with 21 home runs, 11 triples, 17 doubles and 60 RBIs for the Bengals. The team had marginal success, however, at a combined 49-47.
He tweeted out yesterday: "Today I got to tell my family that my dream is coming true. Can't really put into words what that feels like. So excited for this journey!" It's been re-tweeted more than 13,000 times.
