The Cubs' Kris Bryant Wins MLB National League Rookie Of The Year
By Kate Shepherd in News on Nov 17, 2015 6:22PM
Kris Bryant capped off his incredible first year with the ultimate honor: 2015 MLB National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. The Cubs' third baseman was the unanimous pick for the award, which is voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the Cubs announced in a statement.
Bryant didn't make his Major League debut with the Cubs until April 17 after being promoted from Triple-A Iowa. He went on to have an incredible season with the Cubs who sailed to 97 regular season wins, beat the Pirates in the NL Wild Card game, beat the Cardinals in the NL Division Series and eventually lost to the Mets in the NL Championship series.
The honor isn't a surprise to most baseball fans. He made the 2015 National League All-Star team and led all MLB rookies in several important categories, including 26 home runs (tied), 99 runs batted in (RBIs), 31 doubles and 87 runs scored.
He worked well with other young players on the team like Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler and Javier Baez.
"We just feed off each other," Bryant said to MLB.com. "Everybody struggled through the season, and we kind of leaned on each other as the young guys. We kind of brought ourselves together and learned from one another, and it really made the learning curve a lot easier for us."
He's also become a fan favorite in Chicago and even posed as a Lyft driver for a hilarious video where no one recognized him. The Cubs honored him on Twitter with a video:
Congratulations to @KrisBryant_23, unanimous 2015 National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year!
https://t.co/Xy45A9pMw8
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) November 16, 2015Bryant is the first player in Cubs history to earn unanimous Rookie of the Year honors and only the sixth player in team history to win the award. Catcher Geovany Soto was the last franchise player to be named Rookie of the Year in 2008.
Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros won the American League Rookie of the Year Award.
Other players to win the prestigious award include: Albert Pujols, Mike Piazza, Andre Dawson, Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter, Ron Kittle and Cal Ripken Jr.