Baseball
Kris Bryant: Still a Kid From Bonanza High School
It's a charmed life for the MLB star. But he's the same humble guy who went to high school in Las Vegas.
There are so many good memories here for me. I met my wife here, got a scholarship for playing baseball well and doing well in school. I loved high school, loved every minute of it.
LAS VEGAS — In a homecoming video for RedBull.com, these were some of the comments Kris Bryant shared upon making a recent visit back to Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, where he graduated from in 2010. Since then, he has become an extremely accomplished athlete, while continuing to be grounded and humble in his approach.
3 min
Kris Bryant Homecoming
Here are some of Bryant’s memories, which are chronicled in the video above.
On coming home to Bonanza High School, home of the Bengals:
Pretty cool to see your face on a door right when you walk up. The wall of fame was something that we walked by every day in school and you look up there and think, that would be pretty cool to be up there one day. Now the students here walk by and see my face up there. My wife is up on the student council side of the wall of fame. She was student body president, three sports, she did it all. She still does it all.
On his first varsity game:
First varsity game, I was so nervous. I had no clue what I was doing. I think I made an error, misplayed a ball, it bounced over my head. I was getting the nerves out. My first home run was a grand slam, so I redeemed myself after my first game.
Kris Bryant Coming Home
© Robert Snow/Red Bull
On getting dressed for baseball games:
The locker room … my memories were that we never really got to be in that locker room because the football team had it. We’d pull up our cars and change in the parking lot and blast our music.
On keeping the field looking sharp:
We all had our jobs to take care of the field. Freshmen started off with the worst jobs. As a senior, you got up to watering the field. I took pride in what I did, not just here, even what we do now in manicuring Wrigley Field with our feet in between in each pitch. You take pride in what you do.
Kris Bryant at his old high school
© Robert Snow/Red Bull
On seeing scouts at his games:
When you start seeing scouts in the stands, you feel the pressure. I certainly felt it. I look up and see radar guns and everybody writing notes down. It only helped me later on and eased my nerves.
On a shattering memory:
We had a pretty busy street here. I actually hit a homer over the fence and we hear a sound. Obviously, it was a car; we just didn’t know what we did to the car. Five minutes later, a guy pulls up, window shattered. It was a pretty funny moment.
Kris Bryant at the plate
© Robert Snow/Red Bull
Bryant's post-high school résumé highlights:
- He won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s top college player at the University of San Diego.
- In his first full year in pro ball, he hit 43 homers and was voted Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year.
- In his second season, he got called up to the bigs and jacked another 26 home runs, made the All-Star team, led the Cubs to the playoffs and walked away with the NL Rookie of the Year trophy.
- In 2016, he took it up another level! Was the starting third baseman in the All-Star Game. Winner of the NL MVP award. And he led the Cubs to their first World Series crown in 108 years.
- In January 2017, he married his high school sweetheart.
What a whirlwind!
