Bryant confident his time with Cubs is near

Unlike his fellow "core" players, Kris Bryant wasn't decked out in Cubs blue and white Wednesday at Wrigley Field.

He had to settle for a navy-blue sport jacket, a light blue shirt and jeans.

Bryant was in town along with Kane County Cougars pitcher Jen-Ho Tseng to accept the Cubs' awards of minor-league player and pitcher of the year, respectively.

In Bryant's case, you'd have an easier time listing the publications and organizations who didn't have him as their minor-league player of the year after his season between Class AA Tennessee and Class AAA Iowa.

All he did in 138 games was put up a line of .325/.438/.661 for an OPS of 1.098 with 43 home runs and 110 RBI.

Although the Cubs were consistent in saying Bryant would not be brought up to the big leagues this season, plenty of Cubs fans and some media members surely wanted to see it. After all, the Cubs did bring up Javier Baez and Jorge Soler to join established young stars Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro.

Bryant handled that talk about as coolly as he was dressed.

"I guess it's bittersweet," he said. "It's always been my dream to play in the big leagues. I sure hope for that day to come sometime. I'm just enjoying my time with my old teammates and talking with them. Today will be one of the very few times I get to be a fan in this game, so I'm definitely going to enjoy it."

As for when he thought he'd be up, Bryant again parried well.

"That's not up to me," he said. "It's up to the guys in charge. I've always said that my job is to make it hard on them. I think I've done that this year. That's all that I'm going to do for the rest of my career. I'll go out there in spring training and give it all I've got."

The 22-year-old Bryant was the Cubs' first-round draft pick (second overall selection) last year out of the University of San Diego.

Cubs president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer repeatedly said they wanted Bryant to complete one full professional season and enjoy his success instead of him being a September call-up.

Of course, there are business reasons, too, for not calling up Bryant or having him start next season on the major-league roster. If the Cubs call him up in, say, late April, they can delay his free-agency clock.

Even with that, Bryant seemed unfazed.

"I definitely ignore it," he said of the business end. "I've said plenty of times before I hate distractions, and that's one of the biggest distractions in this game. All I can do is go out there and play the game. I don't have any control or say in any of that. If I was focusing on that, it would kind of take away from my play on the field and getting better in the off-season."

Bryant was drafted as a third baseman, and he said the Cubs have told him he remains a third baseman despite talk he could end up in the outfield. The organization also likes its players to see time at multiple positions in the minor leagues.

Bryant also knows much will be expected of him as part of a Cubs future that looks a whole lot better than its recent past.

"Very excited," he said. "Just watching these guys, watching their batting practice, watching Rizzo hit and Soler and Baez, for me I'm still a prospect. But watching these guys up in the big leagues and seeing what they can do, it's very exciting to be a Cubs fan."

bmiles@dailyherald.com

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