“We didn’t live in Hollywood. We didn’t live under any spotlight,” he said. “Nothing about my childhood had anything to do with the entertainment business, it felt like, because I think my parents wanted me as far away as possible.”
But if the kid who was blindsided by last July’s trade from the Mets to his favorite team — for his favorite player, Javy Báez, no less — winds up riding the wings of all that baseball talent from A-ball to the majors as part of Jed Hoyer’s “next great Cubs team,” it’s hard to imagine anybodythe experience and life skills to better handle the media fishbowl and trials of Wrigley Field and its 40,000-strong jury box.
He’s considered one of the brightest prospects among the nine the Cubs acquired in trades the last 15 months of All-Stars Yu Darvish, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Báez during the front office’s second rebuild in a decade. He was on his way to meet his parents, who were in Florida to see him, when he got the call he’d been traded. His dad kept his cool in the moment at hearing the news but “was through the roof” over Pete joining his Cubs.
“I think he’ll be more than ready,” Banner said. “He’s a great athlete. He’s a natural, competitive baseball player, and I think that’ll shine throughout the season.”What’s certain is that he’s fully recovered from the shoulder and physically ready.