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Rockies' Kris Bryant Gives Eye-Opening Statement About Condition of His Back

Originally posted on Colorado Rockies on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Nov 2, 2025 10:00 AM ET

It was hard not to be excited when the Colorado Rockies signed Kris Bryant back in 2022.

While his play had faltered a bit compared to when he took Major League Baseball by storm upon his debut in The Show, he was still an All-Star during the 2021 season when the Chicago Cubs traded him to the San Francisco Giants ahead of the trade deadline that year.

And after seeing him slash .262/.344/.444 with seven home runs, 20 extra-base hits, 22 RBIs and an OPS+ that was 13 points above the league average of 100 across 51 games coming down the stretch of that season with the Giants, the seven-year, $182 million contract the Rockies handed him was exciting even if it was head-scratching since they had traded away Nolan Arenado and didn't re-sign Trevor Story.

But this deal quickly turned into a disaster for Colorado. Bryant went down with a back issue in 2022 before missing the rest of the year with plantar fasciitis. That was followed by missing more time in 2023 due to a heel injury and a broken finger before back issues caused him to miss even more time in each of the past two years.

Kris Bryant Has Worrying Update on His Back

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All in all, Bryant has played in just 170 total games for the Rockies in four seasons. Considering the team played 648 regular season games during that span, this is going to go down as one of the worst contracts in the history of sports.

That's because Colorado still owes him $81 million over the next three years, and it doesn't sound like the degenerative disc disease he was diagnosed with is improving based on what he said to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post (subscription required).

"I wish I had better things to tell you," Bryant stated. "It's not in the best shape, and that's pretty disheartening for me. It's exhausting for me waking up and hoping to feel (better). I can't tell you the last time I woke up feeling I'm in a good spot."

Bryant Explains What Is Causing His Pain

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There was nothing in that statement that inspires confidence Bryant is ever going to be a productive baseball player again. And while he is trying remedies like Pilates and other core strengthening methods, it's the actual things that go into playing baseball that is causing him pain.

"It was the running and the hitting the ground with my feet and the compression into my spine. And it's the sharp bending-over sensations when I'm diving for a ball or diving back to the bag. Those quick movements that are unorthodox, those always got me," he added.

While Bryant stated that swinging a bat doesn't affect his lower back issue, the fact that he can't run the bases or be a base runner without some serious risk of injury is the worrying thing about what he and the team are facing.

So, as Colorado gets set to enter a new era with a new face running their baseball operations department, it's becoming more and more clear -- if it hadn't been a couple of years ago -- that the player who received the largest contract in franchise history won't be a factor for them going forward.