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Kris Bryant has great explanation for why he avoids bat flips

Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant has launched some of the most impressive home runs we’ve seen during his two-year stint in Major League Baseball.

One thing we haven’t seen yet though is Bryant flipping his bat to punctuate one of his epic blasts, and based on his comments this week we never will.

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Bryant explained his reasoning during an appearance on 670 The Score in Chicago. It turns out he actually has some compassion for the opposing pitcher and doesn’t want to hurt his feelings any more than they’ve already been hurt by the crushing contact.

“If it’s halfway up the video board, that’s it, that’s enough of a disgrace for the pitcher that you don’t need to add anything to it,” Bryant told hosts Dan Bernstein and Jason Goff. “You crushed a home run, you felt good about it. He felt bad about it. And it’s good.”

In other words, much harm has already been inflicted upon the pitcher’s psyche. Why add insult on top of it?

Bryant’s generosity here is only matched by his confidence. He’s hit home runs his whole life, and he knows he’ll continue hitting home runs for as long as he wants to. But that doesn’t mean he’s completely against others unleashing a bat flip from time to time either.

“If you’re watching a home run for a little bit, I don’t know if that’s necessarily showing up the other team, but certain guys play that way and certain pitchers are going to be upset seeing that,” Bryant said. “But I think if you add more of that fun to the game, let guys be themselves — I’ll never do it, I’ll be the same boring Kris that I’ve always been — but if guys are going to do that, I think sometimes we’re a little too sensitive with certain things.”

Cubs slugger Kris Bryant doesn't believe in adding insult to the injury created by his home runs. (AP)
Cubs slugger Kris Bryant doesn’t believe in adding insult to the injury created by his home runs. (AP)

Bryant confirms again that he’s a reasonable guy who’s very comfortable with his approach.

That brings us to some other interesting comments Bryant made on the home run derby, which is an event baseball fans would love for him to participate in every year.

Bryant and teammate Anthony Rizzo both obliged in 2015, but were both eliminated in the first round. That taste was apparently enough for Bryant, especially with the new faster paced rules.

“I don’t really have any interest in it,” Bryant said. “I thought it would be cool to do it once and have my dad pitch to me, but man, I’m slowly realizing, I’ve only been here two years, but it’s a long season and it’s important to kind of take advantage of any break you can get. The Home Run Derby now, with the format, it’s a workout. I felt like throwing up after the first one. I was like, ‘Man, I was swinging for five straight minutes’ — max effort too. It was tough, but it was fun to do it once.”

No bat flips. No derby. No fun?

Not at all.

It just means we should respect Bryant’s approach and appreciate the real moments he creates all the more.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!