Kris Bryant could play all 9 positions in one game, if Cubs would let him

During a recent conversation on the Petco Park concourse in San Diego, Mike Bryant, father of Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant, and a reporter were talking about the possibility of the younger Bryant playing all nine defensive positions in one game.

This was during the late innings on Getaway Day, always a good time to have unusual conversations.

Most in the sun-drenched crowd still were buzzing about Kris having hit two mammoth homers during the series before some of his most endearing fans — it easily could have been four, if the Petco power alleys did not stretch halfway to Chula Vista.

Still, Mike Bryant and a reporter were chatting up his son’s defense, because of all the areas in which Kris Bryant still is improving, that is the area where he probably has improved most.

That supposedly was the (small) knock against Bryant coming out of the University of San Diego overlooking Mission Bay — that he was only a passable defender. He’s been much better than that with the Cubs, having committed only 12 errors this season while playing all over the field.

Primarily a third baseman, the only positions he hasn’t played in 2016 are pitcher, catcher and second base.

With Chicago, runaway leaders in the National League Central, on the verge of clinching their division prematurely, having Bryant play all nine positions in a game might be something to keep Cubs fans engaged down the stretch.

Plus, it would be right in the wheelhouse of eccentric Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

Maddon had Cubs pitcher Travis Wood play left field in a game this season — Wood even went back to the ivy to catch a long drive on national TV — and sometimes Maddon allows his players to wear onesies on road trips. He has a reputation for making baseball fun again.

“He could become the fourth guy in history or whatever to do it,” Mike Bryant said of his son playing all the positions during one setting. “They’ve got a 16-game lead. They probably won’t (let him), because of the pennant (implications) or whatever, but he could do it.”

Actually, there have been four major leaguers who have played all nine positions in one game — Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City Athletics was first in 1965, followed by Cesar Tovar of the Twins in 1968, and Scott Sheldon of the Rangers and Shane Halter of the Tigers, both in 2000.

Actor Will Ferrell did it during five Cactus League games with 10 different teams in 2015. Bugs Bunny did it in 1946 against the Gashouse Gorillas in the cartoons. You might remember Bugs speeding from the pitcher’s mound to behind home plate to catch his own pitches.

More recently, Melvin Mercedes of the Stockton Ports played all nine positions in a minor league game. That was Saturday night, against the Bakersfield Blaze in the California League. No, Mercedes did not catch his own pitches.

Mike Bryant said catcher would be the most challenging position for Kris to play but that Kris caught in Little League.

“He could catch David Ross for one inning,” he said of Jon Lester’s personal backstop, the former Las Vegas 51s catcher who got into two games as a pitcher for Chicago in 2015 when the Cubs ran out of relievers.

As for pitching himself, Bryant touched 93 mph on the radar gun at Bonanza High. On Monday afternoon against the Brewers, he fired a laser from the base of the right-field wall and nearly threw out Orlando Arcia at second base.

But as his dad alluded, it’s highly unlikely Bryant will be allowed to play all nine positions in one game this season — not with the playoffs looming so large. They would tie Maddon to the elevated train tracks or run him out of town Lee Elia-style if somebody fouled one off Bryant’s hand and he had to sit out the NLDS.

But that his dad and I were even discussing the possibility shows what a solid defender Bryant has become in what could be an MVP season for the 24-year-old.

Four days after Mike Bryant and I had that conversation in San Diego, the Cubs were playing the Dodgers in Los Angeles. In the bottom of the fifth, Kris Bryant, playing left field, made a backhand, shoestring grab robbing Yasmani Grandal of extra bases.

It was a fine catch.

Two innings later, Vin Scully still was talking about it on the simulcast.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski