SAN DIEGO—At 10 a.m. on the second Monday in July, a small group congregates outside of the Blends sneaker boutique. But this isn’t your typical mix of hypebeasts and resellers camping out for a release. Instead, it’s a group of reporters, publicists, and a cameraman all waiting to get a piece of one of baseball’s biggest, brightest, and youngest stars.
Inside, over 100 black adidas boxes are stacked in a corner on top of gravel flooring. They contain a mix of the some of the most sought-after sneakers—Ultra Boosts, NMDs, and Tubulars. A few feet away, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is parked on a wooden bench, but isn’t checking out the kicks. Instead, he’s posing with various colors of the “Dipped” cleat collection he’s going to sport the very next night on one of baseball's biggest stages.
“My attitude entering each game is the same. I’ve always known the type of player I am, I’ve always had a confidence in myself. It’s easy to draw back on your previous experiences and get that confidence,” says Bryant.
Bryant showed why at 24 years old he’s already one of the game’s top sluggers. For those that haven’t been paying attention, and haven’t heard the hype surrounding Bryant, he gave millions of casual baseball fans a glimpse at how effortlessly he can blast a baseball when he bashed Chris Sale’s third pitch of the game 394 feet into the left field stands to give the N.L. a quick 1-0 lead.
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Bryant, who made his second All-Star Game appearance Tuesday, doesn’t seek out the spotlight, but his talent have made him impossible to ignore for almost a decade now.
At Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Bryant was selected to USA Today’s All-USA high school baseball first team and he shares Vegas roots with another of the game’s most prominent sluggers, four-time All-Star Bryce Harper. Both attended high school in Clark County and a few years after Harper was selected first overall in the 2010 MLB Draft, Bryant was selected second overall in 2013.
Though the two remain friendly, their personalities are vastly different. If Bryant is a part of Harper’s Make Baseball Fun Again campaign, he’s doing it strictly with his bat. His offensive prowess is an essential part of the Cubs, owners of baseball’s second best record at the All-Star break. The 2015 National League Rookie of the Year currently leads the N.L. in home runs with 25 and is third in RBI (65). His power at the plate and league-leading 73 runs scored earned Bryant a starting spot for the N.L. in the All-Star Game. Cubs manager Joe Maddon says he can see Bryant hitting 40 home runs every season.
“You do hear the expectations and you just want to be the best you can possibly be. For me, I’ve always been the type of player where I want to be better than what people expect of me. I want to do it while being as humble as possible. I just love playing baseball,” says Bryant.
On his off days, Bryant prefers catching up on rest and missed episodes of his favorite TV shows: House of Cards, Friday Night Lights, and Sons of Anarchy.
“It’s crazy what baseball does to you. It takes a lot of your time,” he says. “So, when I’m not playing baseball, I’m sitting at home watching TV. Maybe go to a movie or nice dinner, but nothing too crazy.
Despite having off day routines that Average Joes can relate to, the 2016 has been anything but low-key for Bryant and the Cubs. A well documented 108 years removed from their last title, the Cubs entered the season as favorites to win the World Series. By late May, the Cubs were exceeding the hype, winning 24 of their first 30 games and posting a +102 run differential. That’s a run differential of 3.4 per game. To give some perspective, the 1939 Yankees—who went on to sweep the Reds in the World Series—hold the single-season record for run differential at 2.7.
I’ve always tried to be the humble guy; I don’t really like the attention, but it’s what comes with the territory of playing for the Chicago Cubs.
Bryant says the team doesn’t really put much into Vegas odds or the pressure of ending the longest active championship drought in sports. “The team has had the label of ‘needing’ a World Series title for a very long time,” he says. “Everyone wants it. But we, as a group, we don’t feel any pressure. We’re a young team. We don’t really look at anything that people are saying about us, and that’s the right attitude to have with a team like this.”
Having that mentality allows the team to remain steady throughout the highs and the lows of a 162-game season. Over the last month, the Cubs have lost 15 of their last 21 games causing their lead in the N.L. Central to dwindle from 12.5 games on June 19 to 7 games just three weeks later. During slumps like this, Bryant says Maddon’s unconventional forms of motivation keep the team together.
“We could be losing, like recently we were losing big time—by 10 runs—in the 5th inning and usually you’ll hear a manager say, ‘Work a good at-bat,’ or something generic. He’ll straight up yell, ‘Let’s hit some home runs!’” says Bryant. “It’s just kind of funny. The comic relief and funniness that he presents during a game to keep us calm is what what really is like the glue to the team. It really helps us go out there and play.”
After they were swept in the N.L.C.S. last season, the Cubs added a number of high profile free agents in the off-season to complement their young core of Bryant, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and shortstop Addison Russell. No longer the Lovable Losers, long suffering Cubs fans expect an appearance in the Fall Classic and after the team’s blistering start, the expectations have only increased. The pressure to succeed is something Bryant has shouldered since he was a teenager.
“I’ve always tried to be the humble guy; I don’t really like the attention, but it’s what comes with the territory of playing for the Chicago Cubs,” says Bryant. “While I’m walking into Wrigley Field, I think of the greatest baseball players to ever play in this stadium. Then I think about how I get to play in it now, it’s unbelievable. Fans are great now and they’ve always been great. It’s just the perfect city for a Major League Baseball team.”
Back in the sneaker shop, a 15-minute drive from the University of San Diego where Bryant went to school, he admits that he still gets geeked about the perks that come along with being a professional athlete. Bryant signed with adidas in 2014 when he was still in the minors and on the fast track to the big show. He arrived at Blends rocking a pair of the Yeezy 350 Boost Turtle Doves. “As you can tell mine are a little dirty, I wear the heck out of them,” Bryant says as he dusts them off.
With his homer off Sale, Bryant became the youngest Cub to go deep in an All-Star Game since Augie Galan. The Cubs centerfielder was 24—same as Bryant—when he homered in the 1936 Midsummer Classic. Only midway through his second season, Bryant already has a few records to his name. Last year, he set the franchise’s rookie home run record (26) and became the first player to hit three home runs and two doubles in a single game a couple weeks ago against the Reds.
The individual accolades are appreciated, but Bryant knows there’s only one milestone Cubs fans care about.
“I’ve had a lot of good individual moments through high school, college, and since being drafted, but winning the World Series in Chicago would be the best thing to ever happen to me,” says Bryant.
