ESPN
Third baseman
Kris Bryant and the
Colorado Rockies are in agreement on a seven-year, $182 million contract, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Wednesday.
Bryant got off to a hot start in 2021 after a down and injured season in 2020. He cooled off some after being traded from the
Chicago Cubs to the
San Francisco Giants but still put up good numbers overall, slashing .265/.353/.481 between the two teams.
MLB Network first reported Bryant had reached a deal with the Rockies.
He was in the very early MVP conversation after hitting .322 in April and .327 in May. Bryant's 1.078 OPS in April had Cubs fans excited but a .114 batting average in June, where he had just nine hits for the month, cooled off the MVP talk. Eventually, he was traded to the Giants for prospects as his seven-year career in Chicago came to an end.
One of Bryant's best attributes is his ability to play all over the diamond. In 2021 he played in 93 games in the outfield, 55 at third base and a dozen more at first base. And he was an above average fielder at all of them.
Bryant was on track for a Hall of Fame career before injuries slowed him down. He won rookie of the year (2015) and an MVP (2016) in back-to-back seasons then followed that up with the highest OPS (.946) of his career in 2017.
Since then, he's endured shoulder, knee, ankle and hand injuries limiting his production, including his power, at times. But he's always been a reliable player who can still hit at a high rate when healthy. In many lineups, he's one of the tougher outs for the opposition, and he's pitched accordingly because of that.
Discussions with the Cubs over a long-term deal never got off the ground after his big years with the team. As he approached free agency, his departure became a fait accompli and so the Cubs traded him to San Francisco in July.
ESPN's Jesse Rogers contributed to this report.
