Kris Bryant: It felt like my performance this spring didn’t matter

Cubs prospect Kris Bryant spoke for the first time Thursday since being sent down to the minors, telling ESPN that he’s disappointed his impressive performance didn’t matter.

“I don’t want to say I’m mad or anything, I’m just extremely disappointed,” Bryant told ESPN on Thursday. “I wanted my performance to matter, and to me it felt like it didn’t matter as much as I thought it would.

“The dream is on hold for a little bit but I’m hungrier than ever.”

The Cubs cut Bryant from the big-league club Monday along with Javier Baez and Addison Russell. Bryant hit nine home runs, drove in 15 runs and posted a .425/.477/1.175 slash line in 40 at-bats.

“I’m definitely learning it’s a business,” Bryant said. “I just go out there and put my head down and play as hard as I can. Baseball is such a performance-driven industry. I’m a big believer if you go out there and perform and work hard and you earn it then I believe you should get that chance to play up there. I guess it was viewed differently than I thought.”

The Cubs will retain a year of control over Bryant before reaching free agency by stalling his Major League debut a few weeks.

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