Kris Bryant Could Determine How Much Rockies Improve in 2025

As Kris Bryant enters the fourth year of a seven-year, $182 million deal, the Colorado Rockies are simply hoping that he can stay on the field in 2025 and be the productive player they envisioned when the deal was inked before the 2022 campaign.

On paper, that doesn’t seem like a big ask. After all, between his rookie season with the Chicago Cubs in 2015 and the year he split between the Cubs and San Francisco Giants in 2021, Bryant played in 102 or more games in every season (except for the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign).

However, since Bryant signed that deal to come to Colorado to be one of the faces of the franchise, the former National League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player has played in 159 total games over the past three seasons, with 80 games in 2024 setting the benchmark for his time in the Mile High City.

During those three seasons, Bryant has battled ailments ranging from plantar fasciitis to a lower back strain to a fractured left index finger. Every injury has added another layer to the frustration for both Bryant and the Rockies.

Each side envisioned a vastly different outcome when Bryant first donned purple pinstripes. A veteran presence who could hit for power and drive the ball into the alleys at cavernous Coors Field? It sounded like exactly what was needed for a franchise that had dealt away Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals and was seeing Charlie Blackmon begin his inevitable journey toward retirement.

Having just turned 30 when he signed that deal, Bryant was at the perfect age to not only produce on the field but also be a leader in the clubhouse for a Rockies team that was beginning a deep dive into the youth movement.

However, neither of those things have happened anywhere close to the level hoped for in Denver.

When Bryant hasn’t been injured, he’s been ineffective, posting a minus-1.3 bWAR in 671 plate appearances and logging just 44 extra-base hits (27 doubles and 17 home runs). As a comparison, Bryant had 20 extra-base hits in just 51 games with the Giants after being dealt away from Chicago.

Another note of concern? His average exit velocity has not topped 85.7 mph in his three years in Colorado, marking the only three seasons of his career where it has sat that low.

So, can 2025 really be any different? Listening to the Rockies’ management and players during the recent Rockies Fest at snowy Coors Field, one gets the feeling that it almost has to be different this season. After all, the Rockies have endured back-to-back 100-plus loss seasons, marking the first time in franchise history that triple-digit losses have occurred.

How does Colorado avoid a third straight 100-loss season? It seems that getting Bryant back in the lineup and keeping him there is a big step toward that goal.

“He’s extremely frustrated with how it’s gone,” All-Star third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “And I expect a lot more from him this year. I think he expects a lot from himself.

“For us to be good, we need a healthy KB.”

McMahon has done his part, as have Gold Glove winners Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop and Brenton Doyle in center field. Throw in a pinch of hope for a bounce-back season from outfielder Nolan Jones and a dash of belief that Michael Toglia can continue his power surge and be a long-term answer at first base, and there’s reason to believe the Rockies can be better in 2025, despite the playoff-caliber rosters that exist throughout the National League West.

Those players mentioned above are all solid … but as a unit, they would look even better with a healthy, productive Bryant being one of the anchors of a regular lineup for manager Bud Black.

“I don’t know whether it’s critical, but it’s a big piece,” Black said of Bryant’s role in helping the Rockies get right again. “If it’s there, it’s a big piece. You look at his career averages and, granted, the last couple of years, he hasn’t hit those numbers, .380 for on base, .280 batting average, and slugging that was over .500 that was prior to our signing.”

That was then, but Black believes it can be now as well.

“Can he get back to that? I think so. We’ll see, but we need him to play. He’s committed to get this right.”

What Lies Ahead for Kris Bryant?

Before 2024 came to a close, Bryant told Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post that an offseason lifting, stretching and training routine designed by a team in Las Vegas and Denver had him encouraged about his health for the 2025 season.

“Right now, I definitely have (the pain) under control,” Bryant told Saunders. “The big test, of course, will be when I go out there and actually play a baseball game. But I’m super confident in the program that I have been on.”

Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt told reporters at Rockies Fest that the franchise still has every faith that Bryant can become that centerpiece player they envisioned back in 2022.

“He still has the tools,” Schmidt said. “We just got to find a way to keep him on the field of play because I think he can still be a productive player for us.”

Bryant’s path to being that productive player has already been outlined heading into 2025. In a crowded outfield teeming with young players ready to make an impact, and with Toglia already holding down first base, Bryant will likely serve as the team’s primary designated hitter.

However, Schmidt believes the Rockies will not keep Bryant in just one spot, perhaps testing the baseball gods while also ensuring other Colorado players can get a day off in the field by serving as the team’s DH as well.

“I can see him running out to the outfield for a day or two. We’re going to need that to free up the DH spot to keep some guys rested,” Schmidt said. “If it’s two days, probably maybe more on the road than at home where he can run him into the outfield. If we can run him in the outfield for a day or two, it helps. And then maybe he can DH the other three days for us.”

Again, for that scenario to work, Bryant will not only have to be healthy but productive as well. It’s something that the Rockies have not seen consistently over the past three seasons.

However, at a time of year when hope springs eternal, Colorado is putting much of its preseason hope into Bryant and a fourth season at a mile high that, in a purple-tinted perfect world, will be vastly different than the previous three.