Quote:
Originally Posted by the 'stache
Curious if opinions on Bryant being "overhyped" have changed any. Last night he was 5 for 5 with 3 home runs, 2 doubles and 6 RBIs. For the season, he's hitting .278 with 59 runs scored, 19 doubles, 21 home runs, 57 RBI. He leads the league in run scored, home runs, and is third in RBI. He's slashing .367/.567/.934. His 3.6 WAR is the 7th highest of any position player in baseball.
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As I stated in the post previous to this one in April, he changed his approach to the plate and was showing signs of improvement.
I believe that if he can maintain this approach he will be very good, but that still doesn't change my perspective that people were ignoring real issues in his rookie season. I think this is the real season that shows who he is as a player, and he has proven himself as someone that can adapt for the better. If he hadn't adapted and changed his approach we weren't going to see anything better than we had the first month of this season. Changing your approach at the plate is a very hard thing to do, but he has been doing it for a couple of months now and seems to be getting better.
He now has a .304 BABIP compared to his 2015 .378. This helps illustrate that he has drastically changed to be able to maintain the BA he had last year while adding on to his SLG numbers.
So my answer is yes and no. I believe just looking at his RC season he was overrated, as many RCs are. Yet his ability to adapt shows me that he is no longer overrated but may be the real deal going forward.