Kris Bryant's meteoric rise from San Diego's cheap seats to Cubs phenom

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – From the third-base dugout Tuesday evening, Kris Bryant pointed into the distance, to a place that technically is part of Petco Park and in reality is where they occasionally herd the college kids for about five bucks a pop and hope they don't make too big of a mess.

"Way up there," he said of the seats above the right-field bleachers, above some signage, above a concourse and below the marine layer but only just barely.

He wouldn't come often to Petco Park. Might've had something to do with the seats. But he was here the night two years ago when Carlos Quentin charged – and broke the collarbone of – Zack Greinke, when all the people here were screaming and yelling and going a little crazy over it.

"Yeah, I was one of those fans," Bryant admitted.

There were other games not quite so memorable, but he loved them all. He played then for the University of San Diego, and was a couple months from professional baseball. He was a Las Vegas kid, but would grow into the second overall pick in the draft eight miles up the road from those far-away seats, and on Tuesday night played third base and batted second for the Chicago Cubs.

If you think these sorts of journeys – those top-deck seats are much, much farther from the dugout than they even appear – are in some way expected, or inevitable, or easy for even the immensely talented or the second pick of the draft, well, you should have seen Bryant's eyes light at the thought of it. You should have seen his father, Mike, who was the other guy in a No. 17 Cubs jersey – "BRYANT" across the shoulders – on the field during batting practice.

It's still special to stand in a place where not so long ago the only way in was by daydream or hang glider.

"It's come full circle," Bryant said. "It's really a little surreal."

At 23 years old, Bryant is a couple days more than a month into the big leagues. After the ruckus over whether he'd earned a roster spot out of spring training (and of course he did, except he didn't), he is batting .290 with four home runs and a team-best 24 RBI. His on-base percentage is .421. He rates near the middle of regular third basemen defensively, so no issues there. More, the Cubs are winning again (or were until Tuesday night anyway) with him batting high in the lineup and playing third base.

He's 30 games into whatever will become of him as a ballplayer and already there's a movement to have him as part of a generation-next Core Four, that being Bryant, outfielder Jorge Soler and prospects Javier Baez and Albert Almora.

While Bryant was prone on a leather couch pregame, thumbing furiously at something on his phone, gold headphones clamped to his head, first baseman Anthony Rizzo spoke to Bryant's transition from hyped prospect to spring phenom to, well, this.

"He's great," said Rizzo, at 25 already the soul and conscience of the Cubs. "He's a good teammate. Very, very smart. Great baseball instincts. He's got an idea of the game. Guys are trying to throw him these bastard pitches and he's taking his walks, and that's before he can even learn the league."

Funny thing about that. Bryant debuted April 17 at Wrigley Field, an event that could not have been more celebrated in Chicago had Michael Jordan and Dick Butkus carried him along Addison Street atop a gilded litter. Showing minimal restraint, Joe Maddon batted Bryant fourth against San Diego Padres ace James Shields.

"And Shieldsy," Maddon noted Tuesday, "was definitely out to make a point."

Shields struck out Bryant in the first inning, the fourth inning and the fifth inning.

"Right out of the birth canal," Maddon said, "that's not an easy way to go."

There was a lot of talk that day about the effects of big-league changeups on young hitters.

"Obviously," Bryant said, "my first game against him wasn't how you'd draw it up.

"Since that day? I mean, obviously that first day I think I learned the most. How they're going to go about pitching me."

In spite of his late start, he is fourth in the National League in walks. He is sixth in on-base percentage.

On Tuesday, 32 days and countless lessons later, he would face Shields again.

"Yeah," he said, "should be fun."

He struck out, on a changeup, in the first inning. Two innings later, he grounded to third. And in the sixth inning, on a first-pitch cutter, Bryant laced a single to left field – smooth, hard and top-spun. Several hundred feet from that seat way up there in the Petco ozone and eight miles door to door from USD's Fowler Park, Bryant had made it. Again. Family, friends and former teammates cheered from a suite on the second level, where the seats generally run more than $5.

"It's been fun," he said. "That's the best way to describe it. I'm living a dream. My dream."

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