The list of accomplishments that Kris Bryant has achieved in his baseball career thus far are nothing short of staggering: Golden Spikes (2013), MiLB Player of the Year (2014), Rookie of the Year (2015), NL MVP (2016) and let’s not forget World Series champion.
The 25-year-old kid from Las Vegas has lived up to every ounce of hype that was surrounding him when he was drafted with the second overall pick in the 2013 MLB draft. What makes him even more impressive is the level of humility that he has shown every single day that he has been a part of the Chicago Cubs organization. You can call Bryant a lot of things, but arrogant is not one of them.
The people at Adidas saw Bryant’s humility (and baseball skill) in 2013 after the Cubs snatched him up with the number two pick in the draft. Mark King, Adidas Group’s North America president, said of Bryant,
“What I love about him is just how humble and appreciative he is to be playing the game of baseball.”
Adidas made the deal with Bryant official in 2014 when they won the right to sign him to a two-year deal that sources say was worth about $30,000 a year. Last year, he re-signed with the company in a record breaking multi-year deal about a month after helping the Cubs win the 2016 World Series championship.
Adidas signs Kris Bryant to an extension. Hearing it's a record breaking MLB shoe deal, worth $1M+ a year in neighborhood of a decade long. pic.twitter.com/I63Pnt0Ut3
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 8, 2016
So as you can clearly see — KB is getting PAID by the good people at Adidas.
Bryant recently paid back his teammates with an Adidas “gift bag” just in time for the 2017 season. Bryant allegedly packed the bags himself which featured some of Adidas’ newest gear: Adidas x Reigning Champ collaboration, Adidas x RC Ultra BOOST and alphaBOOST and allegedly hand delivered them to his teammates.
I’m saying allegedly because it’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the NL MVP packing up bags and walking around a team hotel to deliver them himself. Then I think about it and for some reason I can actually see him delivering these bags to his teammates because that’s just the kind of guy he is.
Humble.
If you’re like me and have no idea what the hell any of that Adidas stuff is, here ya go.
This is a great example of a time when it pays to have the reigning NL MVP as a teammate.
