{"id":579840,"date":"2026-02-18T20:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/579840\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T20:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:39:35","slug":"kris-bryant-is-in-pain-every-day-and-cant-play-baseball-for-colorado-rockies-but-hes-not-retiring-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/579840\/","title":{"rendered":"Kris Bryant is \u2018in pain every day\u2019 and can\u2019t play baseball for Colorado Rockies \u2014 but he\u2019s not retiring \u2013 Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Kris Bryant has reported to Colorado Rockies spring training and has a locker in the Salt River Fields clubhouse, but he\u2019s not a baseball player.<\/p>\n

While his teammates went through their first full-squad workout Tuesday, Bryant was suited up in Rockies purple but was a bystander. He cannot run, let alone compete on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime my feet hit the ground, I feel like I could probably fall over,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate and obviously not how I want this to go. I\u2019m here to figure things out and find out if there is a way to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant, who turned 34 last month, continues to struggle with a degenerative back condition<\/a> that makes everyday life painful and threatens to end his career. He still has not conceded that retirement is inevitable, saying he \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to go there.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

But the Rockies already put Bryant on the 60-day injured list, and there are no plans for him to play this season.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked a lot,\u201d manager Warren Schaeffer said. \u201cThere\u2019s really not much to say about it other than the guy\u2019s back really hurts and he\u2019s having a tough time progressing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to prepare like he\u2019s not going to play. That\u2019s just the way we have to go about it, hoping that he has a recovery and a breakthrough. But as of now, his back really, really hurts. It\u2019s a real thing. He just can\u2019t play baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant has played only 170 games with Colorado since signing a franchise-record seven-year, $182 million free-agent contract<\/a> before the 2022 season. He has hit .244 with 17 homers and 61 RBIs. He has three years left on the deal, and the Rockies still owe him $81 million.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The one-time National League MVP and hero of the Cubs\u2019 2016 World Series championship has been diagnosed with lumbar degenerative disc disease. The condition involves the wear and tear of the spine in his lower back and has required multiple treatments, including an ablation procedure, to manage the pain. He has tried Pilates and hours of physical therapy, but nothing has worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy waking up in pain every day, but now we are here,\u201d he said. \u2018I\u2019m just trying to determine the next step with the training staff and doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about calling it quits, Bryant replied: \u201cI\u2019m not going to dive deep into that. I don\u2019t want to misspeak. I haven\u2019t read the reports. My focus is just to find stuff that will help me wake up, hopefully, in a little less pain than the day before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant, clearly emotional about the topic, said he still clings to hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I have to,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s not just something I\u2019m going to deal with now, I\u2019m going to deal with this the rest of my life. I\u2019ve talked to a lot of people about it. I know a ton of people, not just playing baseball, but people who have terrible backs too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could never have expected this or seen this coming. And now that I\u2019m dealing with it, I wouldn\u2019t wish this on my worst enemy. It\u2019s miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n

How miserable?<\/p>\n

\u201cSome days it\u2019s hard to grab the toothpaste in front of me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like that every day, but those days it\u2019s like you just wish you had some type of answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the pain like?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of different sensations I\u2019m feeling,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just feels like I\u2019m being electrocuted in my whole body. It\u2019s not ideal. It\u2019s pretty miserable. Maybe this is part of old age, even though I\u2019m not even old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaeffer said he feels for what Bryant is going through.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as a human being,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cI\u2019m not even close to being in his shoes, but I can relate. I can see how tough it would be on him, with the high expectations for him. \u2026 It\u2019s tough for him and we have to be here to support him. That\u2019s all there is to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaeffer expects Bryant to contribute to the Rockies\u2019 rebuild as a mentor to young players.<\/p>\n

\u201cKB has done so much in this game and he\u2019s gone through so many experiences, so of course he can help young players,\u201d Schaeffer said. \u201cWhen he\u2019s around, it\u2019s to the benefit of the young players for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Kris Bryant has reported to Colorado Rockies spring training and has a locker in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[5,24,167,52,4316,402,4,168],"class_list":["post-579840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-rockies","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-coloradorockies","tag-kris-bryant","tag-mlb","tag-rockies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116093567876347276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}