Colorado Rockies: Kris Bryant on injury challenges of 2022 season

Kris Bryant has played well for the Colorado Rockies in the first season of a seven-year deal but the season has been a “physical and mental challenge” due to injuries.

The Colorado Rockies surprised most of the baseball world in March when the club signed Kris Bryant to a seven-year deal for $182 million. However, it wasn’t completely surprising to some in the know.

Rockies GM Bill Schmidt was the club’s scouting director when Kris Bryant was directed and he heavily scouted Bryant in high school as early as 2010. When Bryant was drafted in 2013, he was drafted by the Cubs with the second overall pick. Bryant was actually surprised that it was the Cubs because the Rockies scouted him more.

Nearly a decade later, Bryant signed with the Rockies partially because of his relationship with Schmidt and partially for his love for the city of Denver.

This season, Bryant is hitting .312/.379/.487 with an OPS+ of 132. However, due to two stints on the injured list due to a back injury, he only played in two MLB games from April 26 through June 26. He has only played in 40 games entering July 30. And that’s why, despite learning a lot and loving being in the organization, Kris Bryant has struggled a bit physically and mentally.

Kris Bryant on the challenges of being injured in 2022

“Just being hurt for the majority (of the season) so far is a physical and mental challenge all in one,” Bryant told Rox Pile (FanSided’s site for the Colorado Rockies) in an exclusive interview recently. “But I feel like, definitely, I’ve handled it well. I’ve taken that time to really get to know the guys here and just observe and just try to help people when I can. But it’s very easy to kind of sit back and (think of) how … things aren’t going your way but I felt like I’ve handled it pretty well and just been able to form some relationships here with the guys that I’m gonna be here for a while with.”

While he was on the injured list, he was still around the team and trying to help others as much as he could but Bryant admitted that it was difficult to “even talk baseball sometimes.”

“It’s different when you’re not playing and you’re on the injured list,” Bryant said. “You feel kind of helpless and kind of in different positions just because you feel like you’re not doing anything so it’s kind of weird to even talk baseball sometimes. But now that I’m actually in games, and I feel more involved with the guys. It’s definitely more fun to be able to joke around and like give guys a hard time here and there, just building that team chemistry.”

While he was on the injured list, he had two rehab assignments with Colorado’s Triple-A team, the Albuquerque Isotopes. Bryant explained how he was happy with his experience there.

“They do a great job in Triple-A (Albuquerque),” Bryant said. “They’re very involved in watching the games and cheering everybody on which that was really cool to see because it’s kind of a double-edged sword when you’re in Triple-A. You kind of need someone to struggle to get you a chance at the big leagues. But there was none of that I saw going on down there and that was really cool because it just felt like everyone was talking at the same end of the rope, regardless of what level you’re at. Just the staff that they had there too. It was really another positive for me to just get to know everybody in the organization. And, wow, ‘there’s some really good people here.'”

Unlike when he was with the Cubs or the Giants, Bryant has exclusively played left field (or DH). He exclusively told Rox Pile earlier this season that he is very happy to just play one position now.

“The DH is really beneficial too for a lot of us who are out there every day to get a little half-day off,” Bryant exclusively told Rox Pile in late April. “But it’s nice to know that I’ll mostly be in one area so I can really try to focus on that one area and get better at that.”

Since then Bryant has overcome two IL stints and his wife gave birth to twins earlier in July. It has made Denver and the Rockies home for him.

“You don’t want to come in and step on anybody’s toes by any means but everybody here has been very welcoming and just making me feel like I’ve been here a long time.”