Kris Bryant isn’t ready to call it a career, but his return to a baseball field isn’t at all imminent.
The 2016 National League Most Valuable Player was placed on the 60-day injured list by the Colorado Rockies last week with a chronic back problem. Bryant, 34, hasn’t played more than 80 games in a season in any of his four campaigns in Denver after signing a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Rockies in a rare free agency splash.
Still, Bryant says he remains committed to the rehab process and doesn’t want to contemplate retirement right now.
#Rockies Kris Bryant says the pain in his back won’t let him get to baseball activities, but he continues to consult with doctors and trainers to see what can get him back to playing. He is not retiring, but sticking with rehab …
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) February 17, 2026
“I honestly try not to let myself get there, just because, like, when you’re going through it every single day, you just try to make it day to day,” Bryant told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding after being asked if the process was still worth the pain. “I think people out there with chronic pain, you don’t want to think about so far in the future, because you’re trying to get through the day. So I haven’t let myself get there.”
Bryant, who has appeared in only 170 games with the Rockies, had not been cleared for baseball activities.
A native of Las Vegas, Bryant was taken with the second overall pick of the 2013 MLB Amateur Draft out of San Diego by the Chicago Cubs and made his big league debut in 2015, winning the NL Rookie of the Year after a 5.4 WAR season. Bryant won the World Series the following season in his MVP-winning campaign.
A four-time All-Star, Bryant is a career .273 hitter in 1,054 games with the Cubs, San Francisco Giants and Rockies. He has 1,068 hits, 184 home runs, 548 runs batted in and an OPS of .851 in 1,054 games.