In mammoth spring, Cubs' Bryant at ease

At a time when Kris Bryant is in the conversations and on the minds of virtually everyone in the baseball, the Cubs' top prospect is perfectly content to talk and think about other things, a method he learned to keep his sanity in the Minor Leagues.

Fresh off another two-homer game, Bryant was at ease in the Cubs clubhouse at Sloan Park on Sunday morning, seemingly unencumbered by the media furor over agent Scott Boras' comments about where he might start the 2015 season and his organization's response. When you're batting .480 with a 2.072 OPS and more home runs (eight) than the entire Marlins Spring Training roster, life feels just fine.

"It's been everything I could've dreamed of," Bryant said Sunday of his jaw-dropping first 10 Cactus League games. "Last spring wasn't very good for me, so I went into the offseason and really worked on a lot of stuff. I worked on what they told me to work on, and now I get to see what I've been working on come to light."

In 11 Spring Training games a year ago, Bryant fared much worse, batting just .111 -- 2-for-18, though both hits were home runs -- with a .644 OPS, 11 strikeouts and one walk. After capturing the 2014 Minor League home run crown with 43 in 2014 and rocketing to a No. 2 ranking on MLB.com's Top 100 Prospects list, Bryant has captured everyone's attention this spring.

"It definitely is extremely satisfying, but I'm not going to stop here," said Bryant, who has also doubled twice for 10 extra-base hits in the preseason. "I've still got a long way to go to be where I want to be, and I'm excited for that journey."

Bryant started last season, his first full professional campaign, with a 68-game stint for Double-A Tennessee. After demolishing the Southern League with a .355/.458/.702 slash line, 22 home runs and 58 RBIs, the second-overall pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft was elevated to Triple-A Iowa. Over 70 games with the I-Cubs, Bryant hit .295/.418/.619 with 21 more homers and 52 RBIs. He also made a Futures Game appearance and established himself as arguably the premier power bat in the Minors.

During his Minor League stay, which could continue for the first few weeks of the 2015 season depending on the Cubs' Opening Day roster decisions, Bryant learned that in order to keep himself on his tremendous roll, sometimes he needed to think about baseball less -- not more.

"I think you really just have got to find something to let go of baseball at times," he said of his 2014 season. "You're playing it every day, and sometimes it just seems like it's too much. You really have to find something off the field to take your mind off of it. I picked up the guitar, started playing a little bit of that, watching Netflix shows."

Bryant posted back-to-back hitless games once in Double-A and went hitless in three straight games only one time the entire season. He batted a monstrous .407/.492/.806 in 29 May games for Tennessee and increased his home run and RBI numbers during his months in Triple-A.

His approach away from the ballpark had nearly as much to do with his success as his approach there.

"When you're not at the field, try not to focus on baseball," he said. "When you're at the field, give it all you've got. I definitely learned some tricks along the way on how to let that stuff go, and I think it really helped me out last year."

Rockies' Anderson on road to recovery

Going into 2014, baseball observers wanted to see left-hander Tyler Anderson could avoid injury and put together the type of full season that led the Rockies to grab him with the 20th overall pick of the 2011 Draft. He did -- until almost the very end.

After going 7-4 with a 1.98 ERA in 23 starts for Double-A Tulsa on the way to Texas League Pitcher of the Year and Rockies Organization All-Star honors last year, Anderson was shut down toward the end of the regular season, making just one start after Aug. 13 and two in the Texas League playoffs. The southpaw has been easing into action so far this spring after a recurrence of elbow pain stemming from a stress fracture that first surfaced in 2013 with Class A Advanced Modesto.

Anderson, who said Sunday that his arm feels great, is resting in an effort to return to full strength before the Minor League season.

"It's one of those things where the body will heal it on its own," the Rockies' No. 17 prospect said. "You've just got to rest and let it work. This year, we just wanted to be really careful so it didn't come back. We just saw how [Indians pitcher] Gavin Floyd just kind of came back on rest and reinjured himself. We want to make sure to avoid that."

Floyd reinjured the olecranon bone in his right elbow last week and underwent surgery that will likely rob him of the 2015 season. Colorado hopes to avoid anything resembling a similar fate with Anderson.

Rockies player development manager Chris Forbes said the organization is being cautious with Anderson, but is thrilled with the lefty's desire to be back.

"He's very focused," Forbes said. "He's very driven. He's extremely motivated to help the big league club. We just need to be patient. Some of these things take time. It's a true testament to him now as he's maturing in our organization that he recognizes that there are bigger plans for him."

The Rockies added Anderson to the 40-man roster over the offseason and optioned him to Triple-A Albuquerque last week. When healthy, he'll likely be part of an Albuquerque rotation that includes top Colorado prospects Jon Gray and Eddie Butler.