Kris Bryant sent a fantastic tweet on Thursday after receiving a phone call from the Chicago Cubs informing him that the team would be calling him up to the majors on Friday.
Bryant described it as his “dream” coming true:
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!
— Kris Bryant (@KrisBryant_23) April 17, 2015
Bryant is the top prospect in baseball and has been one of the top power hitters at every level he has played the past few years. He became the No. 2 overall pick in the 2013 draft after leading all college players with 31 home runs at USD that season. Last year he hit a combined 43 home runs while splitting his season between Double and Triple-A. Then this spring he hit nine home runs to lead all players in spring training.
Though Bryant appeared ready to shine in the bigs, the Cubs sent him down to the minor leagues to start the season in order to take advantage of a loophole in the collective bargaining agreement. The specific rule says that a player receives a full year of service time if he’s in the majors for 172 days out of the 183-day season. The Cubs kept Bryant down the first 11 days of the season in order to prevent him from receiving credit for the full year of service time. That ensures the Cubs will retain his rights through the 2021 season. Had Bryant opened the season with the Cubs, he would have qualified for free agency after the 2020 season. The Cubs wisely decided that sacrificing 11 days without Bryant to start the season was worth having him for an extra season.
We speak for baseball fans everywhere (well, except for in the rest of the NL Central) when we say we are stoked for this big day and cannot wait to see what Bryant does!
