Playing for the school's varsity baseball team all four years, he recorded a .418 batting average, a .958 slugging percentage (SLG), 103 hits, and 47 career home runs.

[4] As a freshman at the University of San Diego in 2011, Bryant had a .365 batting average, a .482 on-base percentage (OBP), and a .599 SLG, with nine home runs.

Bryant broke the previous record of 30 set by Georgia Southern's Victor Roache in 2011[11][12] and amounted to more home runs than 223 of 296 Division I teams hit that season.

[26] Bryant began his professional career with the Boise Hawks of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, where he batted .354 with four home runs.

[47] In a July 4 game against the Miami Marlins, Bryant hit both a two-run home run and his second grand slam of the season off Jarred Cosart.

[50] On July 27, Bryant hit his first career walk-off home run, a two-run shot, off John Axford in a 9–8 win over the Colorado Rockies.

[51] On September 6, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Bryant hit a 495-foot (151 m) home run, the longest of the 2015 MLB season, off Rubby De La Rosa.

[52] With the home run, Bryant tied Williams (1961) and Geovany Soto (2008), for the Cubs' franchise single-season RBI record for rookies with 86.

[54] In 151 games of his first season in the Majors, Bryant batted .275 with 26 home runs, 31 doubles, and 99 RBIs, which were the most for a rookie since Albert Pujols's 130 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001.

[56] With the Cubs finishing the season, 97–65, the team clinched a Wild Card spot in the MLB postseason, their first playoff berth in seven years.

[58] The Cubs won the series-winning three-games-to-one, but lost to the New York Mets in the 2015 National League Championship Series (NLCS) in a four-game sweep.

[59] He was voted the "Esurance MLB Awards" Best Rookie – by fans, the media, former players, team front-office personnel, and the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

[68] On June 27, 2016, against the Cincinnati Reds, Bryant became the first MLB player in modern history to hit three home runs and two doubles in the same game; he was 5-for-5 overall with 16 total bases in the 11–8 win.

[69] After leading the National League with 25 home runs in the first half of the season, he was selected to his second consecutive All-Star Game, and first as the starting third baseman.

On August 18, he became the second player in major league history to record five hits and five RBIs in two games in one season, joining 1945 MVP Phil Cavarretta of the Cubs.

[80] In addition, he became the sixth player in MLB history to win Rookie of the Year and MVP within his first two seasons, joining Fred Lynn (both in 1975), Cal Ripken Jr. (1982–83), Ichiro Suzuki (both in 2001), Ryan Howard (2005–06), and Dustin Pedroia (2007–08).

[83] In 2017, Bryant finished second in fan voting to Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies as the starting NL third baseman in the 2017 All-Star Game.

[93] In February, Sports Illustrated ranked Bryant as the third-overall best player in baseball, trailing Mike Trout and Jose Altuve.

[95] On June 26, Bryant was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his MLB career due to left shoulder inflammation, retroactive three days prior.

After hitting a home run in the first regular season game against the Texas Rangers,[98] his batting average through April 25 was .232, with a .730 on-base plus slugging percentage.

[106] On July 30, 2021, the Cubs traded Bryant to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for prospects Alexander Canario and Caleb Kilian.

[111] The deal, completed at a time when the Rockies would not be a serious contender in the following season after trading Nolan Arenado and not re-signing Trevor Story, came as a surprise.

[112][113] Sports journalist Buster Olney stated, "On a scale of 1 to 10, the industry shock over the Rockies' deal with Kris Bryant has been turned up to 11.

[117] In 2023, Bryant missed three months of the season, playing in only 80 games, with heel issues and then a broken finger from a Johnny Cueto pitch.

[119] Before the 2024 MLB season, Bryant told The Athletic that he wished he had taken more time to evaluate the Rockies' upcoming minor league prospects and the team's near-term inability to compete before he signed the seven-year deal.

[125] In 2017, Bryant teamed up with Bryce Harper to help their hometown of Las Vegas in relief efforts assisting victims of a shooting at a music concert that left 58 people dead.

[citation needed] On Players Weekend in 2017,[127] Bryant chose to wear three different cleats which promoted the Wings for Life Foundation, a non-profit organization that specializes in spinal cord research.

Bryant has been heavily involved in this organization ever since 2011 when a friend of his, Cory Hahn, was paralyzed while a freshman playing baseball at Arizona State.

[citation needed] Bryant was named his high school's salutatorian, but allowed a classmate to take the role instead when he found out how badly she wanted it.

Bryant and Harper's friendly competition was displayed in the May 2015 series against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field, when they greeted each other for the first time in the Major Leagues.