The Mesa Community College baseball team is 24-5 this season and sitting in first place, but its coach decided to put his players on the edge while they chase another title. Tony Cirelli said in his 32 years as manager, the team has made playoffs 27 times and has been ranked in the top 10 for the last 14 years.
Cirelli told his players during what was a run-in-the-mill practice that he added a player from Europe via transfer, explaining away the awkward timing as "visa problems."
Enter: Kris Bryant.
"He's a big donkey, he's got crazy power," Cirelli told his players. "He can help us. Guys who are pitching are going to lose some innings. Guys who are hitting are going to lose [at-bats]. . . If he gets us to Oklahoma [for the College World Series] and we win another ring, no one's going to be complaining."
Red Bull, one of the Chicago Cubs' third baseman's sponsors, organized a prank in coordination with Cirelli to have Bryant be the European transfer. Under the alter ego Roy (an abbreviation for "Rookie of the Year") Nabryt (an anagram for Bryant), the slugger joined practice late and started taking some swings.
Cirelli told his players to expect to see their playing time take a dip to accommodate their new player, but promised it was for the best. Cirelli even said he was changing his team's policy on facial hair to accommodate the new guy's scruff. Some of the players grumbled, but were awestruck when Bryant started his batting practice session.
One player said, "they said we were getting a kid, not a man."
But Bryant's size and his tape-measure moon shots gave him away. The video shows multiple players confidently saying, "that's Kris Bryant," and eventually the reigning NL Rookie of the Year formally introduced himself, joking that he wanted a ring if they won the National Championship.
"I'm pretty serious around the guys most of the time," Cirelli said. "Every now and again I will tell a joke or say something funny but for the most part, it's business."
Bryant is heading into his second season with the Cubs after hitting 26 home runs in 65 at-bats as a rookie. In addition to being named Rookie of the Year, he even finished 11th in MVP voting and was named to the All-Star team.
