Injured Colorado Rockies Slugger Says He is Considering Experimental Treatment

Colorado Rockies slugger Kris Bryant is no closer to a return the field and is collecting more opinions about his back injury.

Apr 2, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Colorado Rockies outfielder Kris Bryant (23) breaks his bat while hitting a single during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The next few weeks could end up being a critical time frame for injured Colorado Rockies slugger Kris Bryant.

The 33-year-old designated hitter still isn’t doing much on the field as he tries to recover from lumbar degenerative disk disease. He can work out and he can do light hitting, but any sort of ramp-up like live batting practice is out of the question right now.

What’s next could determine whether he plays this season.

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He told reporters on Sunday, including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, that he was preparing for a phone consultation with a New York doctor on Monday. After that, he plans to meet with a doctor in Dallas for a consultation on what he called an “experimental treatment” that would falls just shy of surgery.

He did not disclose the treatment.

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Earlier this season, Bryant had what is called an ablation procedure on the back, which interrupts pain signals being sent from the back to the brain.

He still wants to play this season. He’s played in 11 games with a slash of .154/.195/.205 with no home runs and one RBI. The Rockies put him on the 10-day injured list on April 14 and moved him to the 60-day IL on May 11. It is the ninth time he’s been on the IL since he joined the Rockies in 2022.

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Bryant admitted that he would like to avoid surgery. In his case, surgery to correct the problem would involve spinal fusion, since this condition deteriorates the spinal disks that act as cushions between his vertebrae. The surgery would make it hard for Bryant to play.

The Rockies signed Bryant to a seven-year contract worth $182 million with a full no-trade clause. He is in the fourth year of that contract, and it’s become one of the worst contracts in baseball, based on Bryant’s consistent inability to play.

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Before he joined the Rockies, he was one of the most feared sluggers in baseball, especially early in his career. He was the 2016 National League rookie of the year with the Chicago Cubs and spent his first six-plus seasons with the franchise. When the Cubs won their World Series title in 2016, he was the NL MVP.

He made four All-Star Game appearances with the Cubs, as he slashed .279/.378/.508 with 160 home runs and 465 RBI.

Chicago dealt him to the San Francisco Giants at the 2021 trade deadline as they were making a push for the playoffs and Bryant was entering his free agency season. He slashed 262/.344/.444 with seven home runs, and 22 RBI. The Giants won the NL West but did not advance past the NLDS.

For his Major League career, he has slashed .273/.368/.483 with 184 home runs and 548 RBI.

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