Kris Bryant

Kristopher Lee Bryant (born January 4, 1992), nicknamed "KB", is an American professional baseball third baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants.

Bryant attended the University of San Diego, where he played college baseball for the Toreros. He was named an All-American in 2012 and 2013 and won the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award in 2013. The Cubs selected him with the second overall pick in the 2013 MLB draft, and he quickly became one of the top prospects, winning the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award and Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award in 2014.

Bryant made his major league debut in 2015. He was named an MLB All-Star and won the National League's (NL) Rookie of the Year Award. He was again named an All-Star in 2016, won a World Series championship with the Cubs, and won the NL Most Valuable Player Award. He was named an All-Star again in 2019 and 2021. The Cubs traded him to the Giants in 2021, and after that season he signed a seven-year contract with the Rockies.

Bryant attended Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Playing baseball for the school's varsity team all four years, he had a .418 batting average, .958 slugging percentage (SLG), 103 hits, and 47 home runs. He also played American Legion Baseball. USA Today named him to their All-USA baseball first-team in 2010. The Toronto Blue Jays selected Bryant in the 18th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft. He did not sign, and enrolled at the University of San Diego to play college baseball for the San Diego Toreros.

As a freshman at San Diego in 2011, Bryant had a .365 batting average, .482 on-base percentage (OBP), .599 SLG, and nine home runs. He was named a freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger and the West Coast Conference (WCC) Co-Freshman of the Year and Co-Player of the Year, sharing both honors with Marco Gonzales. Following his freshman season, Bryant played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League, batting .223 with three home runs and 16 runs batted in (RBIs) in 37 games.

As a sophomore in 2012, Bryant batted .366 with a .671 SLG, 14 home runs, and 57 RBIs. He was again named first team All-WCC and he was also named a first-team All-American by Baseball America. That summer, Bryant was selected by USA Baseball to play for the U.S. collegiate national team. The team finished third at the Haarlem Baseball Week tournament.

In 2013 as a junior, Bryant hit 31 home runs to lead the NCAA. He hit the most home runs by a college player since the NCAA switched to a BBCOR composite bat in 2011, breaking the previous record of 30 set by Georgia Southern's Victor Roache in 2011 and amounted to more home runs than 223 of 296 Division I teams hit that season. Bryant won the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy, both awarded to the top collegiate player in the nation. He was also named a Louisville Slugger First Team All-American, the Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year, and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Player of the Year.

Bryant was considered to be one of the best available players in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. The Houston Astros, who had the first overall pick, scouted Bryant. Bryant believed he would be chosen by the Colorado Rockies, who had the third selection of the draft.