Kris Bryant’s 2015 is one of the best rookie seasons in Cubs history

In Commentary And Analysis, Major League Baseball by dmick8977 Comments

Kris Bryant has had a fantastic season. He's probably going to win Rookie of the Year in the National League as he's hit .273/.367/.490 with a .370 wOBA and 135 wRC+. He's struckout a ton, but also has a very good walk rate for a rookie (11.7%) and he's hit 24 home runs while driving in 93. UZR rates him as a plus defender and using fWAR, he's had more than any position player on the Cubs (5.6 for Bryant, 5.4 for Anthony Rizzo). Kris Bryant's 2015 is one of the best rookie seasons in Cubs history. 

I was curious how Bryant ranked among Cubs rookies historically. For that, I turned to Baseball Reference's Play Index. Like Myles, I also have a subscription. 

Baseball Reference uses a difference fielding metric and calculates WAR differently. rWAR has him at 4.8. Bryant's 2015 season ranks 3rd among Cubs rookies all-time in rWAR. 

Jimmy Cooney had 5.3 rWAR in 1890 at the age of 24. Cooney was primarily a shortstop and apparently played some games behind the plate too. Bryant is 2nd all-time in franchise history in the MLB era. Only Charlie Hollocher's 1918 season is better. Hollocher was also a shortstop and he had 5.0 rWAR at the age of 22. 

There's quite a bit of separation between these three players and the rest. Fourth best in Cubs history is Walt Moryn in 1956 and he was 30 years old. He had 3.7 rWAR. 

Bryant's season may not quite be the best rookie season in Cubs history, but it's easily one of the best. More than than though, it's been a great season, rookie or otherwise. 

You can check out the full list below.

Player WAR/pos Year Age PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG Pos
Jimmy Cooney 5.3 1890 24 653 114 156 19 10 4 52 73 23 .272 .360 .361 *6/2
Charlie Hollocher 5.0 1918 22 588 72 161 23 6 2 38 47 30 .316 .379 .397 *6
Kris Bryant 4.8 2015 23 589 80 138 28 5 24 93 69 182 .273 .367 .490 *5/978HD
Walt Moryn 3.7 1956 30 589 69 151 27 3 23 67 50 67 .285 .348 .478 *9/H
Adolfo Phillips 3.6 1966 24 473 68 109 29 1 16 36 43 135 .262 .348 .452 *8/H
Billy Herman 3.5 1932 22 723 102 206 42 7 1 51 40 33 .314 .358 .404 *4
Jim Doyle 3.5 1911 29 533 69 133 23 12 5 62 40 54 .282 .340 .413 *5
Joe Tinker 3.5 1902 21 545 55 132 19 5 2 55 26 61 .263 .300 .333 *6/5
Peanuts Lowrey 3.4 1943 25 526 59 140 25 12 1 63 35 24 .292 .340 .400 *86/H4
Geovany Soto (RoY-1st) 3.3 2008 25 563 66 141 35 2 23 86 62 121 .285 .364 .504 *2/HD
George Grantham 3.2 1923 23 666 81 160 36 8 8 70 71 92 .281 .360 .414 *4/H
Ray Grimes 3.2 1921 27 621 91 170 38 6 6 79 70 55 .321 .406 .449 *3/H
Ryne Sandberg (RoY-6th) 3.1 1982 22 687 103 172 33 5 7 54 36 90 .271 .312 .372 *54/H
Mel Hall (RoY-3rd) 3.0 1983 22 458 60 116 23 5 17 56 42 101 .283 .352 .488 *8/H7
Bill Dahlen 3.0 1891 21 623 114 143 18 13 9 76 67 60 .260 .348 .390 *576/9
Hack Miller 2.9 1922 28 500 61 164 28 5 12 78 26 39 .352 .389 .511 *7/H9
Addison Russell 2.8 2015 21 476 55 105 26 1 13 49 35 140 .241 .301 .395 *46/H
Randy Jackson 2.8 1951 25 609 78 153 24 6 16 76 47 44 .275 .332 .425 *5/H
Earl Webb 2.7 1927 29 395 58 100 18 4 14 52 48 31 .301 .391 .506 *9H/7
Bill Everitt 2.6 1895 26 596 129 197 16 10 3 88 33 42 .358 .399 .440 *5/4
Tom Burns 2.5 1880 23 345 47 103 17 3 0 43 12 23 .309 .333 .378 *6/521
Kevin Orie (RoY-11th) 2.4 1997 24 418 40 100 23 5 8 44 39 57 .275 .350 .431 *5/H6
Ernie Banks (RoY-2nd) 2.4 1954 23 650 70 163 19 7 19 79 40 50 .275 .326 .427 *6
Lou Stringer 2.4 1941 24 581 59 126 31 4 5 53 59 86 .246 .324 .352 *4/6H
Davy Jones 2.4 1902 22 295 41 74 12 3 0 14 38 37 .305 .399 .379 *89
Player WAR/pos Year Age PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG Pos
Dwight Smith (RoY-2nd) 2.3 1989 25 381 52 111 19 6 9 52 31 51 .324 .382 .493 *79H
Bill Madlock (RoY-3rd) 2.3 1974 23 509 65 142 21 5 9 54 42 39 .313 .374 .442 *5/H
George Altman 2.3 1959 26 467 54 103 14 4 12 47 34 80 .245 .312 .383 *8H/9
Eddie Stanky 2.3 1943 27 614 92 125 15 1 0 47 92 42 .245 .363 .278 *46/5
Anthony Rizzo 2.2 2012 22 368 44 96 15 0 15 48 27 62 .285 .342 .463 *3/H
Hector Villanueva 2.2 1991 26 214 23 53 10 1 13 32 21 30 .276 .346 .542 *2H/3
Andre Thornton 2.2 1974 24 357 41 79 16 4 10 46 48 50 .261 .368 .439 *3H/5
Randy Hundley (RoY-4th) 2.2 1966 24 582 50 124 22 3 19 63 35 113 .236 .285 .397 *2
Eddie Waitkus 2.2 1946 26 472 50 134 24 5 4 55 23 14 .304 .340 .408 *3/H
Bill Bradley 2.2 1900 22 483 63 125 21 8 5 49 27 61 .282 .330 .399 *53
Dave Martinez 2.1 1987 22 520 70 134 18 8 8 36 57 96 .292 .372 .418 *8H7/9
Lennie Merullo 2.1 1942 25 576 53 132 23 3 2 37 35 45 .256 .310 .324 *6
Freddie Maguire 2.1 1928 29 639 67 160 24 7 1 41 25 38 .279 .312 .350 *4/H
Sam Dungan 2.1 1892 25 474 46 123 19 7 0 53 35 19 .284 .346 .360 *97
Doug Glanville 2.0 1997 26 510 79 142 22 5 4 35 24 46 .300 .333 .392 *78H/9
Gene Baker 2.0 1954 29 603 68 149 32 5 13 61 47 55 .275 .333 .425 *4/H
Jerome Walton (RoY-1st) 1.9 1989 23 515 64 139 23 3 5 46 27 77 .293 .335 .385 *8/H
Toby Atwell 1.9 1952 28 406 36 105 16 3 2 31 40 22 .290 .362 .367 *2/H
Kyle Schwarber 1.8 2015 22 227 47 49 5 1 16 42 29 69 .251 .352 .533 *72/HD9
Darwin Barney (RoY-7th) 1.7 2011 25 571 66 146 23 6 2 43 22 67 .276 .313 .353 *4/H6
Jim King 1.7 1955 22 333 43 77 12 3 11 45 24 39 .256 .312 .425 *9H7
Bill Serena (RoY-5th) 1.7 1950 25 503 56 104 20 4 17 61 65 75 .239 .339 .421 *5/H
Harry Wolverton 1.7 1899 25 442 50 111 14 11 1 49 30 14 .285 .350 .386 *5/6
Bob Glenalvin 1.7 1890 23 276 43 67 10 3 4 26 19 31 .268 .337 .380 *4
Starlin Castro (RoY-5th) 1.6 2010 20 506 53 139 31 5 3 41 29 71 .300 .347 .408 *6/H
Player WAR/pos Year Age PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG Pos
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/19/2015.

 

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Comments

  10. Suburbank Id

    (dying laughing)

    I may be old as dirt but inside I often feel like a naive kid. What exactly did Maddon mean when he said “we didn’t start it but we’re going to finish it”.

    Seeing as he disparaged the beanball policing and the unwritten rules, it would be contradictory to retaliate in the same way.

    I hope he just wanted to get in their heads and let them wonder. That’s all you should do (besides beating them on the scoreboard).

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  11. Author
    dmick89

    Suburbank Id: I hope he just wanted to get in their heads and let them wonder. That’s all you should do (besides beating them on the scoreboard).

    At first when I read that this morning I was really confused too, but then I realized that he probably did it just so both benches would be issued a warning prior to the game today. I think he was actually protecting his players.

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  12. Author
    dmick89

    I could be completely wrong about that, but that’s what makes sense to me. It might be worth noting though that the Rays and Red Sox had some ugly fights over the years so Joe just might mean what he said.

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  19. Millertime

    Things have really broken the Cubs way lately. Anthony Rizzo turns into a yearly MVP candidate, Arreita goes from 5th starter to Cy Young candidate, and Bryant is the greatest rookie ever. It’s an odd feeling. Joy, maybe?

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  21. GW

    dmick89,

    I haven’t watched the current season yet. It’s on my DVR. I really liked season 2, but not the way it ended. Felt like they were unnaturally stretching it out.

    Thumbs up from you for season 3, I take it?

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  22. Suburbank Id

    dmick89:
    I could be completely wrong about that, but that’s what makes sense to me. It might be worth noting though that the Rays and Red Sox had some ugly fights over the years so Joe just might mean what he said.

    Could be. HarryPav on twitter thinks it wasn’t a beanball warning but rather a brawl warning.

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  23. Author
    dmick89

    GW: I haven’t watched the current season yet. It’s on my DVR. I really liked season 2, but not the way it ended. Felt like they were unnaturally stretching it out.

    Thumbs up from you for season 3, I take it?

    I loved the first season and really liked the second, but it was definitely drawn out a bit more than it needed to be. Not Kurt Sutter style by any means, but it’s probably best at 6 episodes per season. I thought the third season was one of the best seasons of tv I’d seen. I’m anxious to get your thoughts on it when you’re finished, but I know you’ve got a lot of things going on. I thought it was the best season of tv since Breaking Bad’s final season.

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  24. Author
    dmick89

    Suburbank Id: Could be. HarryPav on twitter thinks it wasn’t a beanball warning but rather a brawl warning.

    The Cubs are trying to pick up a game on the Pirates over the next couple weeks. Would they really want to risk some 5-game suspensions from some of their players? The Cardinals have the advantage in this one. The Cubs shouldn’t risk it in my opinion. Just play it clean and keep all your players available so you can do your best to catch Pittsburgh. That’s what I hope anyway.

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  33. Suburbank Id

    Sorry for being so high maintenance lately. I found the login on the mobile. Although I can’t figure out the avatar situation. Gravatar wants me to sign up for WordPress, which wants me to choose a domain name and shit like that.

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  34. Suburbank Id

    Len wanted to Oh Baby that Soler bomb but remembered he’s on Fox and had to play it down.

    Also, on the Bryant one. HOLY SHIT

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  42. Smokestack Lightning

    And a Cubes sighting. Finally. Wondered when we’d get one these again.

    You know we’re not winning this now.

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  49. Author
    dmick89

    SK, you saw my link to the profile page where you can change your avatar, right? I was on the phone so I didn’t type much. Let me know if you have any issues.

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  53. Suburbank Id

    dmick89:
    SK, you saw my link to the profile page where you can change your avatar, right? I was on the phone so I didn’t type much. Let me know if you have any issues.

    Yeah, and I said above that I don’t see it and linked to a screenshot of my profile settings screen.

    However, looking at my earlier comment it says “Your comment is awaiting moderation” so perhaps you missed that. Will this comment get through?

    Suburbank Id: I don’t see it:http://oi57.tinypic.com/vf83yt.jpg

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  57. Author
    dmick89

    Suburbank Id:
    (dying laughing) that’s two comments that are “awaiting moderation”. Is it because of the link?

    I would guess it’s because of the link, but I’m not entirely sure what’s blocking it. I got several little things done this morning on the site that I wanted to get done and have a few other things I want to get done yet tonight or tomorrow morning. Then I’ll figure that out. Sorry about that.

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  61. Rizzo the Rat

    The Giants are still having trouble with the DBacks. At this rate, the magic number will be down to zero in no time.

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  62. Author
    dmick89

    Rizzo the Rat:
    The Giants are still having trouble with the DBacks. At this rate, the magic number will be down to zero in no time.

    Assuming the Dbacks hold on, the Cubs could 0-14 the rest of the way and the Giants would have to go 11-3 due to the tiebreaker the Cubs hold over the Giants. Personally, I’m hoping for a bit better than an 0-14 finish.

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  68. berselius

    At least you guys finally got ISU off your backs. I was checking the score last weekend to see if 20% of my twitter feed would be jumping off a cliff.

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  74. Suburbank Id

    dmick89: The old nicknames are so much better than the ones today.

    Are there any current players who go by nicknames other than Scooter (lame) Gennett?

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