On a day when Kris Bryant took a small step toward returning to the lineup, the veteran first baseman/outfielder talked in-depth for the first time Wednesday about the nature of the back injury that has haunted him since signing with the Rockies before the 2022 season.
“I know I have a bad back, and that’s no secret, and there are some things in there you aren’t going to heal. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just part of getting older, and it sucks,” Bryant said after taking infield practice for the first time since going on the 10-day injured list on April 14 with what the club called a low back strain.
Bryant exacerbated his back problem on April 13 when he crashed into the outfield wall in Toronto while making a catch in the first inning.
Bryant, who signed a seven-year, $182 million free-agent contract with the Rockies before the 2022 season, acknowledged that he has disc and arthritis problems in his lower back.
“I guess it’s hard to speak on because I’m not a doctor, but the discs in my back are pretty much dried up, so there’s a couple of discs that … they don’t function like they did 10 years ago,” Bryant said. “My facet joints are a little — not a little — they are pretty severely arthritic, and (there are) a lot of bone spurs and stuff like that. It’s just part of getting older. That’s the way the doctor explained it to me. So I just have to find a way to manage it as best I can.”
According to the Mayo Clinic website, facet joints are joints in the spine located in the back (posterior) aspect of the spine. There are facet joints at each vertebral level, one on each side of the spine. The joints allow the spine to turn or bend with movement and stability. Facet arthritis happens when the cartilage that covers the ends of the joints wears out and becomes thin. This can contribute to the growth of bone spurs.
Asked if there has been talk about undergoing back surgery, Bryant said, “You could do that, but then you limit your mobility and that’s pretty much a last resort.”
In 13 games this season, Bryant is slashing .149/.273/.255 with one home run and six RBIs. He had collected three hits in his first eight at-bats of the Blue Jays series before the injury put him on the injured list again.
But after fielding grounders Wednesday, Bryant was optimistic he could return and be a productive player for Colorado.
“Things happen. You can’t change it. It happened,” he said. “But things today feel fine, and I haven’t felt that good (fielding) a groundball since 2021.”
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Still, there is no timetable for his return. Manager Bud Black said Wednesday that when Bryant is healthy enough to play again he would likely go on a minor league rehab assignment.
Bryant, who played in just 42 games in 2022 and 80 last season, admitted he’s frustrated.
“The tough part is that I feel like I put so much work in during the offseason to make sure I was doing the right things to get my back in the right position,” he said. “I had great form in my workouts.
“Me and my trainer worked really hard. And (with) my physical therapist in the offseason, it was like four or five hours a day to get in a position to feel good. So, I’m just extremely frustrated. I have to find a way to move on and get better quick.”
Bryant stayed in Denver during the Rockies’ recent road trip and he said it was encouraged by his progress.
“I feel good,” he said. “I know I wasn’t on the road trip, which sucked. But I felt like I did really good work here. And I feel like things kind of got better faster than I thought, and maybe faster than the training staff thought. Because I came in yesterday ready to do pretty much everything, so that was good.”
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