DiCaro: Kris Bryant's A Different Breed Of Player, As Cubs Fans Will Discover

By Julie DiCaro--

(CBS) Today's the day.

After months of hand-wringing, teeth gnashing and arguing by Cubs fans about where he should start the season, minor league phenom Kris Bryant will reportedly be called up Friday and is expected to make his debut in front of the home crowd. The more cynical among the Wrigley Field faithful will shrug their shoulders and point out they've been down this road before with the likes of Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, and Tyler Colvin.

And while that perspective holds some merit in that every prospect is an unknown quantity at the major league level, Bryant's a prospect of a caliber Cubs fans haven't seen in a very, very long time.

Here's what Cubs fans need to know before Bryant takes the field today against San Diego:

He's tall: No, I mean he's really tall. Especially for a third baseman. At 6-foot-5, Bryant is the tallest third baseman in recent memory, leading to concerns that he's too tall for his position, though Miguel Cabrera, Chipper Jones and Scott Rolen made a decent go of the hot corner at 6-foot-4.

With the Cubs' surplus of infielders at the both the major and minor league levels, it's a good possibility that Bryant eventually finds his way to the outfield, but don't expect that to happen right away. Bryant will likely be manning third base for a good portion of the 2015 season -- that's where the team's current need is.

He strikes out a lot: Wait ...  what? Bryant can't strike out, all he he does is hit home runs!

Well, he does hit a lot of home runs. Bryant's a mature hitter and powerful to all fields, which is one of the real bonuses to having him in the lineup. At the same time, like most power hitters, he does strike out a lot. In fact, at Triple-A Iowa in 2014, he struck out at a rate almost equal to that of Javier Baez. Bryant struck out 85 times in 297 plate appearances in 70 games with the I-Cubs (28.6 percent strikeout rate). Baez struck out 130 times in 434 plate appearances in 104 games with the I-Cubs (29.9 percent strikeout rate).

If there's one aspect of Bryant's game that's concerning, it's that he often struggles to make contact. But ...

He's able to compensate for his lack of contact: Despite concerns about Bryant's strikeout rate and issue making contact, he's managed to put up monster numbers everywhere he's played.

In 2014, Bryant hit 43 home runs and knocked in 110 RBIs in time split between Double-A and Triple-A. He led the major leagues in home runs during spring training with nine. In seven games at Iowa this season, he homered three times and compiled an OPS of 1.042.

At least one MLB executive described Bryant as having 50-home run power. He's regularly compared to Even Longoria and Mike Trout. So while Bryant's issue with contact bears watching, it hasn't prevented him from embarrassing opposing pitchers at every level.

He's special: While some Cubs fans will inevitably make comparisons between the excitement surrounding Bryant and that of his ancestors, like Corey Patterson and Felix Pie, Bryant's different. For one thing, advanced metrics are far more widely accepted than they were in days of Patterson and even Pie. Scouts and front offices now have a host of tools for evaluating players at their disposal, and Theo Epstein's among the best in that department. When it comes to looking at prospects, the game has moved far beyond batting average and on-base percentage, leading to much more accurate valuations of young players.

And while guys like Pie and Patterson were highly thought of within the Cubs organization, they didn't come close to achieving the national accolades Bryant has under his belt. Last year's Minor League Player of the Year, Bryant was also named the the top prospect in baseball this season by Baseball America, the second-best prospect by MLB.com and the fifth-best prospect by Baseball Prospectus. That means that a lot of analysts see the same potential in Bryant that the Cubs see.

Is there a guarantee that Bryant will find success as quickly as Trout and register such big statistics in the big leagues? Of course not. Will he struggle at times this season? Undoubtedly.

After all, he is a rookie, despite what his numbers say. Bryant's going to make mistakes, and there will be disappointments along the way. The jump to the major leagues is a huge one, and Bryant will be forced to make adjustments to survive.

That said, Cubs fans are absolutely justified in their excitement as Bryant begins his major league career. Bryant has met and exceeded expectations at every level he's played at. That should continue, beginning Friday, at Wrigley Field.

Julie DiCaro is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Julie on Twitter @JulieDiCaro or onFacebook. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.