What more is there for Kris Bryant to ask for? The Baseball Writers’ Association named the Chicago Cubs star the National League Most Valuable Player on Thursday.
Bryant becomes the first player to win college baseball’s top award the Golden Spikes Award, the Minor League Player of the Year, the MLB Rookie of the Year and the MVP award in four straight seasons.
He said it was amazing to hear that he was the first to accomplish the feat of winning those four awards over four seasons. He called it humbling and said he was grateful to have been given the opportunity to reach this point.
Twenty players have been name Rookie of the Year and MVP, but Bryant now joins just Cal Ripkin Jr., Ryan Howard and Dustin Pedroia as the only four players to win both awards back to back.
A player on the Cubs has won the MVP award 10 times, with Ernie Banks a Hall of Famer winning it twice for the Cubs. The last time a Cubs player won the award was in 1998 when it was awarded to Sammy Sosa.
In the American League, Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout won his second AL MVP award, which marked only the third time that both winners of the MVP in the same year were 25 years old or younger.
Anthony Rizzo a teammate of Bryant with the Cubs was fourth in the balloting for MVP. Bryant and Rizzo were 1-2 on three of the ballots from the writers association. Rizzo sent a tweet out to congratulate his teammate.
Bryant thanked Rizzo for his guidance and protection during the season, which he said was instrumental in him winning the award.
Bryant has a very humble demeanor and that and his great performance for the Cubs has made him a huge hit with fans for the Cubs.
Bryant ended the season with a .292 batting average, 39 home runs, 102 RBIs, 39 doubles and 121 runs scored over 155 games.
This season he was the only MLB player to hit at least 35 home runs, 100 RBIs, 35 doubles, 100 runs scored and walk 75 times.
