Despite being limited to 42 games due to a lower back strain and left foot plantar fasciitis, Rockies’ outfielder Kris Bryant has proclaimed himself 100% ready for baseball, reports Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. Saunders adds that Bryant does not anticipate any restrictions when he reports to Salt River Fields for Spring Training. Manager Bud Black added to Bryant’s confident statement, saying that Bryant is “encouraged that he’ll be exactly where he needs to be a month from now.”
Bryant reportedly began ramping up his rehab shortly after the season ended, and has not experienced any setbacks with his back or foot. Nevertheless, plantar fasciitis is a particularly tricky injury, with recurrence common due in part to the limited blood flow around the heel and the constant use of one’s foot. A recent example of the impact of plantar fasciitis is slugger Albert Pujols, who missed part of the 2013 season after experiencing continued pain caused by his plantar fasciitis. However, Pujols’ decision to rest did not fully heal this issue, and the three-time MVP was forced to undergo surgery in late 2016 in an attempt to ease his ailment.
When discussing his injury, Bryant told reporters that he believes that he might have contributed to his plantar fasciitis while recovering from his back injury, compensating for his decreased power by overworking his lower body. Nevertheless, Bryant added that he is working with Scott Pensivy, a Las Vegas-based physical therapist who has previously worked with NBA players and Bryant himself, to correct the issue and reduce future setbacks. Bryant added that he’s had “no hiccups and no setbacks” and that he’s, “completely moved in the right direction.”
Bryant’s positive assertion is a welcome site for the Rockies, who struggled to a 68-94 record without him during the 2022 season. Bryant started the 2022 season slashing a weak .281/.339/.351, before he was placed on the injured list, missing the majority of May and June. He returned with a bang in July, hitting .341/.411/.612 in 95 plate appearances before injuries forced the end of his season. Outside of Bryant’s limited performance, Colorado’s offense struggled. No Colorado player (minimum 150 plate appearances) finished the season with a higher average, on-base percentage, or slugging percentage than Bryant. Additionally, only All-Star C.J. Cron finished the year with a slugging percentage greater than .435 (minimum 150 plate appearances), despite playing in one of the most hitter-friendly stadiums. In addition to the threat of Bryant’s bat, Black hopes that Bryant’s “presence will be felt by the opposing pitcher,” which will help “all our guys.” Bryant signed a seven-year, $182MM contract with Colorado before the 2022 season, the largest free agent contract in franchise history, that will keep him with the club through the 2028 season.
He’ll be healthy for a whole 2 days
Expected to be unhealthy for Regular Season
Damn….you beat me too it.
Is there any truth to the rumor that a botched penis enlargement surgery while a giant led to so much time on the DL?
twitter.com/LionInTexas10/status/16209444143184076…
Kris Bryant was and remains a solid addition to the Rockies IL.
I would have guessed the plantar fasciitis caused the back issue, not the other way around.
The next Ian Desmond
Good news! They get their star third baseman back to play left field. Maybe that’s harming defense, but he can hit well.
Rangers need to trade Miller and Regans for him and 10 million a season.
Too early to give up on him already
Look we are all people who want to provide for our people….Bryant spent 24/7 of his whole life preparing for the show and he made it.
Bryant got screwed by the Cubs, apologies to Mike Olt….So when we all said “WTF the Rockies….?”….yup.
Bryant went for the $…and aside of virtue signalers…..we ALL would have done the same….
Just curious what he could have become w/o the injuries…?
Guess I see things a little different as a dinosaur, poet. Never really understood the mentality that says a guy should play for whomever is willing to pay the most. To me at least, I don’t get the insult some of these guys feel between being offered $30M a year as opposed to $25M a year. Has to be some room for peace of mind and comfort in terms of where I’m going to play
But I understand your point. That’s the rationale du jour
And you’re right. The guy was a fantastic player pre-injuries
@tiredolddude, am only GenX and not speaking for Bryant. His lawsuit was VERY distasteful to me….but none of us were in the behind the scenes stuff that went on in Chicago…….Maybe he felt there would be a backlash for that suit….?
Either way, my guess was that he felt whatever he felt and just took the most guaranteed $ available…and go from there….
My point was, not really knowing what went on behind the scenes, we might have all done the same….?
There was no lawsuit, he filed a grievance due to the MLBPQA putting pressure on him and he lost because Mike Olt did have a really good spring and was already on the 40 man roster.
As for him taking the most money, we won’t truly know everybody that was involved and how much was offered.
This was a bunch of nothing! He had a great relationship with the Cubs but was too unreliable to be paid for all those years and the Cubs were smart not to do it. Now he’s their problem. Good luck – you might get one full season out of the 7.
@Tiredolddude, if every player took the stance of excepting less they would b making a fraction of what the currently make. Testing the market is what helped drive up their value. And just curious how many raise have you turned down from your employer over your life?? Expecting others to earn less is kind of absurd by any measure. Yes the salaries they earn have gotten crazy, however each mega player is like a separate business entity these days. Employing agents, chefs, trainers, publicists, accountants, lawyers, etc.
Understand your point completely, Tigers, and I’m sure it is representative of what most players and union reps would pay
I don’t know that I meant “expecting others to earn less” but rather, looking at it as someone who sees little difference between $25M and $30M a year, especially if it’s a 5 year contract or so.
@Tired, Bryant was players union rep for the Cubs. So it was not just about a little extra money for him but also growth in revenue for MLBPA players as a whole. I know it is generational wealth either way. But in Bryant’s case we’re talking about a teams MLBPA rep and the poster boy for service time manipulation. And no I do not fault the Cubs for utilizing the service time system to the max. However since they did I can’t fault Bryant for not taking any discount whatsoever.
Come on, I’m so sick of that tired theme about how he was so wronged by the Cubs. That’s a bunch of nonsense . They simply held him back for the minimum amount of time so they could get another year of control. Big deal – nothing against the rules. They filed a greavance but lost. Even Bryant always said it never bothered him.
Got screwed by the Cubs how? actually screwed by the player’s association for agreeing to the timeline. kinda like criticizing Trump for paying very little taxes instead of saying it’s smart not to pay more than the tax law says you can.
Widespread voter fraud
Italian satellites.
Spot-on correct. We are suppose to take advantage of the rules. No one should say anything when the Cubs hold him back and no one should say anything when he leaves for more money.
You can say “what could he have become without injuries” about a whole lot of players.
Kris Bryant was an absolutely horrific signing by Colorado. Everything about Kris Bryant’s career told you he was NOT gonna be healthy. When healthy, he will ALWAYS still have some type of nagging injury.
Colorado ultimately paid Kris Bryant all the money the Cubs were supposed to pay this guy.
The Cubs holding back Bryant did him a favor. If he was a 2020-21 free agent, Boras probably would have negotiated a pillow contract or one with an early opt out.
@ Very Barry, in 8 seasons he has missed more 18 games only twice. So not sure what in his career is indicative of him being a huge risk of being injured.
Games missed isn’t the only measure of injury. He played through a lot of his injuries, it’s why his production went from MVP to MEH.
He has still been fairly productive aside from 2016. Which coincidentally was also the most loaded lineup he has been a part of. A lineup so deep Contreas and Baez were coming off the bench of playing utility riles around Montero and Zobrist. Bryant’s #s also fell when he became more disciplined at the plate cutting back on Ks and increasing BBs. Overall he has not gained much as far as OBP. The free swinging approach he favored his first 2 seasons seems to have been more conducive to production. But feel free to keep speculating that he was always playing injured to the teams detriment. As always some fool on the internet acting as tho he knows more than a pro teams medical and training staffs. It’s quite laughable…
As a Cubs fan I can tell you that Bryant is never healthy. Rockies are going to seriously regret throwing away Arenado and throwing this horrible contract to Bryant in a year or two.
He played over 150 regular season games 3 times and over 140 2 more times. He’s not “never healthy”
Aside from his first three seasons, he’s had legit injuries limit him throughout the season thereafter. Even in 2021 when he played 144 games. Look at his IL stints starting in the 2018 season. His shoulder and oblique injuries have sapped his power, he’s never healthy. Take a chill pill fanboy.
That is true. If you completely ignore all the times he was healthy, then yes he is never healthy.
So it has gone from never healthy to sometimes unhealthy. Got it.
Reading is hard for you is it? He’s been injured or banged up the last few seasons. That’s not sometimes unhealthy, he hasn’t aged well at all. He’s always hurt.
@ Thefallen, he has missed more than 18 games only twice in 8 seasons. Far from always hurt, yes they keep stats on things like games played.
Thanks for sharing that number, he is still never healthy. If you are so adamant I am wrong go back and watch the last few cub seasons in full and you’ll understand what I’m saying.
If you dig your heels in any further, you might reach the other side of the world. I disagree with you, but I sure do respect your conviction.
@Thefallen, so we have established he has not missed a ton of time over numerous years. Now you want fault the guy claiming he played through(what you suspect) as injury?? I’m sorry but now you want to fault a guy if he did in fact put the team first and gut on an injury to be on the field. I think it is pretty clear you are just out to vilify him or you just steadfast on not admitting you were wrong.
Being able to play doesn’t mean you’re healthy…
“Putting the team first” doesn’t matter when your production is down, due to injuries. Go look at his career production and then match that up with reports of him dealing with issues, unsurprisingly, you’ll see a pretty strong correlation. It has less to do with him not admitting he is wrong and more to do with your weird binary approach to healthy/not-healthy based on games missed.
So you guys still confused about Bryant being injured all the time or still in the denial phase?
He’s played 50 games so far this year before hitting 10 day IL which will likely b a minimal stay. Weak attempt at finding a smoking gun….
Bryant aside, when the Rockies gave away Arenado and Story, they destroyed any faith in their franchise.
I just hope he is seeing the smartest man in world history and the inventor of baseball, Dr. J. Maddon for his plantar fasciitis.
George Santos says he graduated at the top of his class from John Hopkins University while specializing in plantar fascilitis. He’s the man to see!
There are Chicago Cubs fans that still to this day blame Tom R & Jed Hoyer for not resigning Kris Bryant.
For all the Jed Hoyer haters on MLBTR please show me why this was a mistake.
Guys like Jed H & Brian C get rake over the coals for bad baseball deals you never hear the fans say any thing when they make the right call.
#JustAsking
As a Cubs fan, I am glad they let Bryant, and Baez, walk. Wasn’t happy initially about Rizzo but that was his choice not to accept the extension offered. Was it low? Maybe a tad but again, his choice.
Bottom line, it’s a business. I do think the Cubs crying poor was a joke. If they were short on money, it was only because they were spending it on the area outside of Wrigley to maximize revenue.
Exactly. You are 100% correct Murph. Hey, you’re not Mike Murphy the former radio host are you ha?
They were short on money because they lost $73M in 2020. I assume that was what the Cubs were referring to when they said they were limited in their spending.
The entire league lost 3B in 2020. But I didn’t hear other teams crying poor as much as the Cubs. What the Ricketts don’t want is for fans to realize that the Ricketts’ only care about money and profit. The Cubs could lose every year for the next twenty and the Ricketts’ would keep counting their profits and smile the whole time.
My comment was not a defense of the Cubs or to challenge your very important opinion about Cub ownership… Simply a reason the Cubs didn’t spend.
I’m a Cubs fan living in Chicago, and I don’t hear that and never did. Sure, there were some fans that were hoping the Cubs would sign him. Of course – it makes sense, as he was Rookie of the Year and then NL MVP in his first 2 seasons alone. And we finally won a WS with him. But for the most part, the more knowledgeable fans understood why they let him walk. You could see the trend. Smart move. As for Hoyer, I just feel he rode Theo’s coattails all those years. Who knows what he did or did not do during all that time in Boston & Chicago working for Theo. I don’t like that he is so risk-adverse. He was basically told to go ahead and sign Dansby by his owner who didn’t want to get booed again at CubsCon. But while it hurt to rip the Bandaid off like he did, Hoyer moving the core did not bother me. It was time. And we got such a great prospect from the Mets in the Baez deal that they didn’t want to engage on Contreras for fear of losing another good one. PCA will bat leadoff and play a GG centerfield in Wrigley for many years.
He should be healthy, hes getting paid almost 30 mil per year. These guys can some how magically play 150/162 games in their contract years but after signing the contract some dog it. Kris Bryant is a bum
He’ll be healthy for 3 hours.
Your stretching it, but who knows?
Bryant caught a variant of the dreaded Anthony Rendon Virus.
Anthony Rendon caught the Jacoby Ellsbury virus
Jacoby Ellsbury caught the Alfonso Soriano virus.
He would be a welcome addition to the Yankees…another overpriced loser
I expect that Jennifer Lawrence will have a fling with me. Just as likely to happen.
Too busy sniffing her own farts.
No HRs at Coors last season !!!
The AD of MLB
Not appreciating the KB disrespect in the comments
Is it because you have a lot of signed KB rookie cards and the prices are plummeting??
I enjoy the critical thinking in your reply haha
That gives him Spring Training to find a reason to be put on injured list.
I’d be laughing as I wrote the title to this article.
The time off has rejuvenated KB. Will he win the MVP this year? Uncertain. Will he be in the top 3? 100%
Sorry, no. He has to prove he can stay healthy.
He’s been in the top 3 once, and that was seven years ago, but sure, he’ll magically return to that form I’m sure.
In fairness, when he was in the lineup he was hitting like an MVP. Reminded me of Tulo in his prime. MVP-worthy but always hurt.
To be honest, after 2016, he was terrible in the playoffs. 15 games, 55 PAs .164/.182, 1 DBL, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 19Ks.
The entire core was horrible in that 15 game playoff stretch, which is why they all needed to go.
125 wRC+ is hitting like an MVP now?
Kris Bryant Expected To Be Healthy For Spring Training
He’ll be healthy until he isn’t healthy. Any time Bryant is on the field is a limited engagement, so set your DVRs.
Its a shame the Rockies aren’t a more well run organization. I personally think MLB benefits greatly from the Rockies playing well.
Coors gets packed even with crappy ownership
Many savvy Cubs fans here. Bryant was a great piece to a championship. But constant injury has ruined what was thought to be a HOF career. He’s just another guy, who might stay on the field sone seasons, but probably will be on the IL a lot. No way I would have given a long term deal to this guy, or any of the others of the 2016 core. The major problem was that the Cubs system stopped developing players and traded the ones that could help.
He’s missed more than 18 games in 2 of 8 seasons. Not sure how that constitutes constant injury.
You have made it quite clear that you don’t know what injured means, you don’t need to keep posting it.
@Mark Doesn’t that seem to be the case for all teams now , except for what…Houston, Seattle, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, & & & ?
True. Theo no HOF, neither is Hoyer. No sp from the cubs system during that run. Rizzo, Baez and Darvish were the only 3 worth anything. Not much left to back them up.
Seriously, did he just stop trying? Lazy? Freeloader?
Trade arenado because you can’t tell a 2 year old to knock it off and sign Kris Bryant because he had one really good year.
26 million aav? SMH. May be early to say this but disapointing pickup for the Rockies…
You could have said that the moment the K was signed and it wouldn’t have been too early.
If Bryant can play 130 games, hit 30 homeruns, 30-35 doubles, Rockies would get their money’s worth. Those are very doable numbers at Coors Field. As a Cubs fan, he’s got the talent he showed it multiple times so I wish him the best in Colorado.
boras once again representing clients with injury problems. Im guessing Colorado did the physical, maybe not. Even considering Bryant’s IL stints with the Cubes.