"I can't tell you the last time I woke up feeling I'm in a good spot....If you asked me two or three months ago, I would say [my back pain] was not affecting my everyday life. But now it is, which is really annoying to me because usually when you kind of just rest, it's supposed to get better. So maybe I'm at a point where I should just do a bunch of stuff to see if that helps."
"I've played this game for 30 years now, not professionally, of course, but it's all I have ever known....But watching the playoffs and seeing some of my friends still playing, that gives me the motivation to try and play. So I don't have those conversations [about retirement], thank goodness, because I don't want to. I just want to be a baseball player."
Kris Bryant has played only 170 games over four seasons with the Rockies, appearing in just 10 games in 2025 before recurring back issues ended his season early. Lumbar degenerative disc disease causes pain during basic baseball activity unrelated to swinging and now affects his day-to-day life, leaving him exhausted on waking and rarely feeling well. He underwent an ablation procedure last May and currently is not performing baseball activities; Rockies head trainer Keith Dugger has him on a regular Pilates regimen to reinforce his core. Return to regular on-field action remains uncertain. Bryant retains three years and $78 million on his seven-year, $182 million contract and remains motivated by watching peers play, unwilling to contemplate retirement.
Read at MLB Trade Rumors
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