Kris Bryant wasnt quite in the Bryce Harper tier of prodigies. He didnt play professionally straight out of high school but instead spent three years at the University of San Diego. He had an excellent career there but was not the first player taken in the 2013 draft, instead going second after Mark Appel went to the Astros. Bryant had incredible raw power, but he was not a five-tool player the way Harper was. Bryant is nearly a full year older than Harper, even though Harper is in his fifth season in the majors, while Bryant is in his second.But by the time he made his debut in 2015, expectations were high for Bryant -- and he exceeded them from Day 1. According to FanGraphs, Bryant produced 6.5 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in his rookie season, which was the 10th most among all hitters and fifth most among NL hitters. Bryant showed off his power, hitting 26 home runs in his rookie season, but he also contributed in a number of other areas, including his .275 batting average. Those diverse contributions were surprising, and based on some of his peripheral numbers, they were unsustainable. In particular, Bryant had a top-10 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) of .378 and a top-10 strikeout rate of 30.6 percent among hitters with at least 300 plate appearances. Those are two characteristics that rarely coexist, which suggested that Bryant should see a marked decline in his batting average in future seasons. Cheap Adidas Superstar Online . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Buy Adidas Superstar Online . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. 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The rest of the Chicago Cubs rotation depends on the health of Kyle Hendricks.Hendricks left Game 2 of the Division Series against San Francisco when a comebacker went off his right forearm in the fourth inning. He had a bullpen session Thursday, and the Cubs are waiting to see how he feels before confirming the major league ERA leader for Game 2 on Sunday night.Just find out where Kyle is. Just making sure that hes healthy, manager Joe Maddon said. He threw today. You always wait a little bit to find out if theres any after-effect of that and then you make your determination. But thats about it, just health.Hendricks is coming off a breakout season, going 16-8 with a 2.13 ERA this year that included a 9-2 record and 1.32 ERA in 15 home games.Assuming Hendricks comes through the bullpen session just fine, he likely would be followed by Jake Arrieta in Game 3 and then John Lackey. The four playoff starters combined for 64 of Chicagos major league-leading 103 wins this season, and it sounds as if the Cubs feel they will be OK no matter how it shakes out.I have a lot of faith in our guys. Theyve been doing it all year, Maddon said on a brisk day at Wrigley Field. Theyre absolutely rested going into this moment, so I feel very strongly about our starting pitching.The only major question for Chicago is its NLCS roster. The Cubs were waiting for their opponent before the Dodgers 4-3 victory over the Nationals in Game 5 of their NL Division Series on Thursday night, so they were planning to have more detailed roster discussions on Friday.We debated 11 pitchers versus 12 a lot before that last series, and Im sure thatll be the same debate, general manager Jed Hoyer saidd before Los Angeles win.dddddddddddd Which way we end up going Im not sure. There was parts of the last series that pushed for both, really. There were moments that you were glad you had the extra position player. There were moments you wanted the extra pitcher.Chicago was nearly pushed to a decisive Game 5 by San Francisco, but the Cubs rallied for four runs in the ninth inning of their series-clinching 6-5 victory on Tuesday night. Asked how much he had watched that ninth inning, a chuckling Hoyer responded a lot.It was great. I thought the purpose of our guys at-bats was really wonderful, Hoyer said. They all had a plan.Before that rally, the Cubs had been mostly shut down by Giants pitching. They hit just .200 for the series, and their pitchers drove in six of their 17 runs. Anthony Rizzo, one of the top contenders for NL MVP, and starting shortstop Addison Russell each went 1 for 15 in the first round.We look at it as `Ws and losses. Thats how we all look at it, right fielder Jason Heyward said. We all understand its not going to happen every time at the plate. We understand sometimes youre going to face good pitching.The Cubs also made it to the NLCS last year and then managed just eight runs and 21 hits in a sweep by the New York Mets. But they are hoping momentum from the rally against the Giants, their experience from last year and home-field advantage will lead to a different result this time around.I do have a lot of faith in our guys, Maddon said. Id like to believe that just getting to this next moment might chill everybody out even a little bit more.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenapWholesale HoodiesNFL Shirts OutletJerseys NFL WholesaleCheap NFL Jerseys Free ShippingWholesale Jerseys CheapCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaWholesale JerseysWholesale NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '