First pitch: 1-on-1 with Kris Bryant on stats that matter and the philosophy of hitting

DENVER — Sincere apologies if you’re a lover of advanced statistics and intricate metrics inside the game of baseball, but Kris Bryant of the Colorado Rockies doesn’t share your passion for those numbers.

It’s not that Kris Bryant doesn’t care about statistics. It’s clear that the 31-year-old outfielder does, but he also believes that some of the numbers that we sportswriters (and baseball geeks) love to throw out there are deviating from the path that forms one of the foundations of baseball built through the years.

“I think the way baseball’s going now with the stats, I think it’s ultimately hurting the game,” Bryant told me inside the Rockies clubhouse last season. “I’ve been on the injured list and watching these games, and you see a pitcher come in and they put up like expected FIP. They don’t even put a stat up there you know. I’m a baseball player and I don’t even know some of these stats they’re putting up there. I think that’s the complete wrong direction. I’m not a big fan of that. I think it would be cool to go back to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa when it was average, home runs, RBI, and runs, and that’s all there is, but I can’t control that.”

When I followed up with Bryant about his thoughts on advanced stats on Sunday, his passion for wanting to return to the statistical basics of the game still shone through.

“Now we’re kind of shifting to where you’re only successful if your sabermetrics say you are, which is absolutely insane to me,” Bryant told me when I asked him to define what success at the plate looked like in today’s game.

Rockies: Kris Bryant shares his thoughts on advanced statistics, changing approach

Bryant is a baseball player who has been judged by all of those statistics since making his MLB debut on April 17, 2015. They were some of the basis for the Rockies signing him to a seven-year, $182 million deal before the 2022 season, and they were some of the source of frustration for fans in the Mile High City as a variety of injuries kept Bryant’s contributions to just 42 games last season in his inaugural year in Denver.

However, those same statistics show that, when Bryant was healthy in 2022, he was effective for the Rockies, slashing .306/.376/.475 with five home runs and 14 RBI in 181 plate appearances.

Bryant, now past those injuries and healthy, smacked four homers in spring training while putting together an OPS of 1.032. He started the season hot for the Rockies as well, logging a hit in each of Colorado’s first nine games, the longest streak by a Colorado player to open the season since DJ LeMahieu hit in his first nine in 2016.

So are all of those numbers enough to measure success? Bryant offered that he believes success isn’t measured in small sample sizes but rather in the grand scheme of the overall season.

“For me, success is always if you can improve on areas where you want to improve,” Bryant said. “You’re not always going to go out there and have a better average or more homers or RBI every year, but you can look at areas where you didn’t do well in previous seasons and, if this season is a little bit better, there’s success in that area.

“I always try to wait until the end of the year and see where I’m at, but it’s just hard early in the season because everybody wants to get off to a good start and then you end up putting more press and stress on yourself and that doesn’t do good for anybody.”

Now in his ninth MLB season and his third team (Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants being the others), I asked Bryant if he philosophy on hitting changed throughout the years or even the season.

“Yes and no,” Bryant offered. “When you’re in the moment and you’re playing baseball every single day, it’s hard to answer a question like that because sometimes you have to wait until your career is over and then look back and say, ‘Okay, look at what I did in my early career and then the middle of the career and end of the career.’ It’s going to show differences because age catches up with you a little bit. At the same time, I think you have to look at what these pitchers are doing. They just keep getting better and better and throwing harder and sharper stuff with better command. Your approach has to change, whether you know it or not.”

Part of that early career for Bryant included winning Rookie of the Year in 2015 and National League MVP in 2016, the same season he etched himself into Chicago history by throwing across the diamond in Game 7 to record the final out of Chicago’s World Series title.

“I was just trying to concentrate as much as I can and thinking, ‘Don’t mess this up’ because those were some of the most stressful moments I’ve had in baseball,” Bryant recalled about that fateful throw. “But looking back on it, obviously I can totally smile on it. It’s a pretty iconic moment in my career, and probably the biggest championship in sports history, so it’s pretty cool to be a part of it.”

Now Bryant is working to bring those same feelings of turning around a franchise to Denver, where the Rockies haven’t made the postseason since knocking off Bryant’s Cubs in the 2018 NL Wild Card Game at Wrigley Field.

“Having that moment here would be another iconic, historic moment, especially for this franchise,” Bryant said. “That’s what you play for. Sometimes you get so caught up in your numbers on the scoreboard, but when it’s all said and done, you don’t really remember those. You remember the big moments and wins. You remember the relationships you build in here with the guys and the ones that continue on for the rest of your life. I think when we all kind of come together and focus on that one goal, I think that’s something that we will remember for a very long time.”