POWERFUL START
Bryant fondly welcomed as he realizes hopes of wearing Giants uniform
SAN FRANCISCO >> Wearing his home cream pants and a black pullover, Kris Bryant emerged from the home dugout at Oracle Park for the first time Sunday morning, and fans, piled three or four rows deep down the foul line, erupted in chants: “K-B! K-B! K-B!”
Still, Bryant might be even happier with his trade deadline destination than Giants fans are. The four-time All-Star made his Giants debut Sunday afternoon against the Astros, batting second and playing third base. He received a standing ovation before his first at-bat.
“I’ve had some special fan moments in my career that have given me goosebumps and that ranks up there,” Bryant said of the moment.
He hit a home run in his second at
bat as a Giant, a solo shot to left field. The former Cub finished the day 1 for 4 at the plate in a 5-3 Giants win.
A childhood fan of the Giants — but especially Barry Bonds — Bryant said he always envisioned suiting up in a San Francisco uniform. “Somehow, some way,” Bryant said in the dugout before the game, just before he took ground balls at third base alongside Evan Longoria, who’s been sidelined since the start of June. “The rumors were out there, and I really, really wanted to join this team.”
It ended up being in a trade minutes before Friday’s deadline, in exchange for a pair of prospects. Bryant, 29, was in the visitors’ dugout in Washington, D.C., when he got a call from Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer with the news.
“I don’t know what his thought process was, but I just told him, ‘Thank you for trading me to a team like this,’” Bryant said. “Going through the trade deadline, you hear rumors and you don’t know what’s true and what’s not. And then you hear a team like the Giants and you’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s a team that I want to play for. That’s a team I want to win a championship with, form relationships with.’”
Such as ... a long-term relationship?
“It’s definitely enticing,” said Bryant, a free agent after this season, about the possibility of signing long-term with the Giants. “I was talking with my wife when (the trade) happened, and we both thought that I would end up here.”
Growing up near Las Vegas, Bryant wore No. 25 in Bonds’ honor up until high school, when he switched to No. 23 because Bonanza High School didn’t have a No. 25 baseball jersey. He remembers a mesh Bonds jersey — with the old-school script ‘G’ -- that he had as a kid, and he still owns the signed ball his mom bought for him on a family vacation to watch Bonds and the Giants at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
Bryant’s new No. 23 jersey was already present in large numbers around Oracle Park for his debut Sunday afternoon.
Manager Gabe Kapler couldn’t help smiling as the cheers and chants rained down from above
the dugout, interrupting his pregame media session, as Bryant took the field for the first time.
“He’s gonna be good for us,” Kapler said. “I think Kris’ personality is pretty quiet, but he’s well-equipped to deal with some of this attention.”
Last month, Bryant earned his fourth All-Star nod in seven seasons. His 18 home runs tie him for the team lead with Brandon Crawford. Among Giants players, only Crawford and Buster Posey have posted higher on-base-plusslugging percentages.
Although he started at third base Sunday, Bryant has played both corner infield positions and all three outfield spots this season.