CHICAGO — Kris Bryant and other Chicago Cubs prospects currently in the minors may be phenoms to fans, but they will be just like any other player if and when they arrive at Wrigley Field.
“My expectation is that you play hard, you do your work and that you care,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Wednesday.
Speculation is rising that the first recall will be third baseman Bryant, possibly as early as Friday with a call up from Triple-A Iowa to Chicago as the Cubs open a three-game weekend series againts the San Diego Padres.
Maddon has fielded numerous questions ranging from when Bryant is coming up, who’s making the decision to activate and where he’ll play. Maddon tried to answer them all in some fashion, but has also pointedly tried to lower expectations.
“The thing I like to do with young players like that is to really try to emphasize that you’re just one of the group,” he said. “I’ve been around prodigies before.
“The rhetoric from outside is going to glamorous, glorious, whatever hyperbole you want to call it. But from within it has to be real in conversation with the guy.”