Kris Bryant leaving SF Giants for NL West foe

Last September, the SF Giants played (and swept) a pair of three-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Denver. Kris Bryant started a total of four of the games - pinch hitting in another - and didn't hit particularly well, going 4-for-19 with one RBI and six strikeouts.

Something from those games must have resonated with him, though, as on Wednesday evening Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that Bryant had agreed to a contract with the Rockies.

Bryant's deal with Colorado is reportedly for seven years and $182 million.

The utility player was a member of the Giants for two months in the regular season. He was acquired by San Francisco from the Chicago Cubs at the 2021 trade deadline for minor-leaguers Caleb Killian and Alexander Canario.

With the Giants, Bryant bounced around the field defensively to help the team's mix-and-match philosophy. Gabe Kapler started him at third base in 21 games and 27 times across the outfield: 15 in left field, nine in right field and three in center.

At the plate in Orange and Black, Bryant was decent. He put up a slash line of .262/.344/.444 - all lower than his numbers in the first four months of the season with the Cubs - with seven home runs and 22 RBI. He did steal six bases without getting caught, which was an improvement on his four steals and two caught stealing with Chicago.

Bryant turned it on in the postseason

Bryand did help the Giants in the playoffs, stroking eight hits - including a home run - in 17 at-bats and driving in a pair as the Giants fell to the Dodgers in five games.

The 2021 campaign was the worst full season of Bryant's career. He hit .265 overall with 25 home runs and 32 doubles; the batting average was his lowest for a full season, while the homers and doubles were each second-fewest. He also worked his second-fewest walks in a full season. Bryant did make the All-Star Game, but he one of only two representatives from the hapless Cubs.

Bryant, the #2 overall pick by the Cubs in the 2013 amateur draft out of the University of San Diego, made a splash at the start of his career by winning NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2015 and following that with an MVP award in 2016, when he helped the Cubs end their 108-year World Series championship drought. He made the All-Star Game both of those seasons and in 2019 but has not received an MVP vote since 2017.

Bryant will likely slot in at third base in Colorado, and the thin Rocky Mountain air should help more of his fly balls to leave the park. To date, he has 167 home runs in 884 career games with a .278 average.