Bryant working through injury by controlling what he can

DENVER -- In college at the University of San Diego more than a decade ago, Kris Bryant sought out enough slights to jot on about 20 index cards. "This guy's a 5 o'clock hitter ¡­ he can't do this or that," he recalled.

Believing it was not the way to go, Bryant has built his approach to baseball and life on controlling what he can.

"It's hard to put into words ¡­ some days I sit in bed and stare at the ceiling, dealing with the frustration," Bryant said.

But he tries to limit staring at walls and scoping out the arrows. His frequent injuries, in now the third year of a seven-year, $182 million contract, are a target for verbal archers.

Bryant went into this year having played just 122 games in his first two seasons with the Rockies. He hasn't played since April 13, when he crashed into a wall in Toronto while making a catch. At the time, he was batting .149 with one home run.

On Wednesday, he witnessed another ignominy for his club. Starting pitcher Peter Lambert gave up six second-inning runs -- seven in three innings total. The offense got a two-run homer from Elias D¨ªaz but also hit into three double plays in an 8-6 loss to the Giants at Coors Field. The Rockies (8-28) replaced the White Sox -- 4-1 winners over the Rays -- as the MLB team with the fewest wins.

Before Wednesday's game, Bryant took infield practice at first base and did form sprinting in the outfield. Bryant has also swung in the batting cage the last two days.

"I'm happy with where I'm at right now," Bryant said. "It's the best I've felt in a long time, but it's also some first-day back fielding ground balls, so I gotta be careful with that."

Bryant said, "It's hard to speak because I'm not a doctor," but he explained some of what he knows about his current injury and recurring back problems.

• The synthetic field in Toronto, which has a reddish-color warning track rather than a dirt one, frustrated him.

"The warning track is not an actual warning track," he said. "Can't change. It happened and I'm here now. Things today felt fine."

• The frequent injuries have left damage.

"My disks in my back are pretty much dried up -- there are a couple of disks that don't function like they did 10 years ago," Bryant said. "My facet joints are a little -- not a little -- they're pretty severely arthritic and a lot of bone spurs and stuff like that. That's part of just getting older ¡­ that's the way the doctor explained it to me and I just have to find a way to manage it as best I can."

• In 2022, Bryant dealt with plantar fasciitis in his left foot after he struggled with the back. Bryant's problems are on the right side of his lower back.

"Sure there is a connection -- left foot, right back," said Bryant, going as far as his medical knowledge would allow.

Bryant, 32, who had standout years with the Cubs from 2015-21 and joined the Giants for a postseason run in '21, is aware that his injuries have caused dissatisfaction. But he tossed the index cards long ago.

"Everybody's got opinions," he said. "I have my own opinion. Fans have opinions and they're totally valid. But if I put energy into that, then I'm just giving it more power than it needs."

Given his Colorado injury history, how much Bryant will play, how long he'll play and the effect he'll have on a team going through a tough period are all open questions.

Bryant would rather work toward answers than contemplate them.

"Anxiety comes from wanting to control the future," Bryant said. "I would love to control the future, but I've never been able to do that. I don't think anybody's really been able to do that. So I just got to continue with my rehab."

Still, Bryant believes he will overcome the injuries and be the player in whom the Rockies have a lot of faith.

"Of course I can," Bryant said. "You don't just throw away, in my case, 25 years of playing the game and being really good at it. Of course you think that. And if you can't, guess what? You move on to the next person, and you're forgotten fairly quickly. .... Then when you die, you become dirt in the ground. Then nobody remembers you, and that's how life goes.

"But, in the moment, I would love to be MVP, someone that can help this team win as many games as possible. That makes for a better story."