Kris Bryant’s first five seasons are impressive, but let’s put them in some perspective

His numbers and where they rank on the Cubs’ all-time list at this stage of his career merit a closer look.

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The Cubs’ Kris Bryant hits the first of his two home runs Sunday against the Pirates at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs’ Kris Bryant hits the first of his two home runs Sunday against the Pirates at Wrigley Field.

David Banks/Getty Images

Not only has Kris Bryant passed Ernie Banks to become the Cubs’ home-run leader for the first five seasons of his career, but he also tops the list in bWAR and doubles and ranks third in RBI, fifth in runs and 10th in hits. It’s impressive, but it comes with an asterisk.

Bryant’s two home runs Sunday against the Pirates raised his career total to 138, two more than Banks had in 1953-57.

Sammy Sosa had 142 homers in his first five seasons with the Cubs, but those weren’t his first five in the big leagues. He already had split one season between the Rangers and White Sox and played two more for the Sox.

The bigger asterisk is a point of service time. In 1953, when the Cubs acquired Banks from the Kansas City Monarchs, he played in only 10 games and had only 39 plate appearances. As a rookie in 2015, Bryant was called up April 17 and played in 151 games with 650 plate appearances.

The first-five comparison matches five full Bryant seasons against four full Banks seasons, plus a cup of coffee in September.

What if we were to do the comparison starting with the first season of at least 500 plate appearances? That eliminates Banks’ two-homer rookie month and adds 47 homers in his MVP season of 1958. Banks’ total for his first five full seasons is 181 homers, with Billy Williams second at 139, followed by Bryant (138) and Ron Santo (128).

By bWAR, Baseball-Reference.com’s wins above replacement calculation, Bryant is the Cubs’ leader for the first five seasons at 25.3, followed by Banks (22.8) and Ryne Sandberg (21.2).

Counting from the first season of 500 plate appearances or more rearranges the list, with Banks taking the lead at 31.7. Sandberg’s 21.2 counts only four seasons because his first consisted of six plate appearances for the Phillies. Starting with his first season with 500 plate appearances — 1982 with the Cubs — brings his first-five WAR up to 24.7.

Santo broke in with 347 plate appearances in 1960. His first-five WAR is 16.2. Starting with his first season with 500 plate appearances raises the WAR to 26.1. And Williams’ 11.4 five-year WAR starting with 34 plate appearances in 1959 jumps to 24.0 starting with 584 plate appearances in 1961.

Starting with their first season with 500 plate appearances, the Cubs’ five-year WAR leaders are Banks (31.7), Santo (26.1), Bryant (25.3), Sandberg (24.7) and Williams (24.0).

Yet another way to look at it is that Bryant came to the majors in his age-23 season. Who are the Cubs’ five-year leaders from ages 23 to 27?

For homers, the top five are Banks (181), Anthony Rizzo (150), Santo (149), Sosa (142) and Williams (139), with Bryant poised to tie Williams with his next homer.

By bWAR, the top five are Santo (41.9), Banks (31.7), Bryant (25.3), Billy Herman (25.1) and Rizzo (24.2).

Regardless of the five-year definition, Bryant ranks among the Cubs’ elite. With that much accomplished through age 27, he has a chance to rank high on all-time lists — if he remains with the Cubs.

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