After insinuating so much over the last year or so, Chicago Cubs forward Kris Bryant admitted he isn’t having as much fun playing baseball as he used to.
Bryant, 29, spoke to Red Line Radio, a Barstool podcast, and was asked if he was feeling joy on the field.
“Sometimes not,” Bryant replied. “It really affects me sometimes. The things I was hearing. The first exchange rumors (in 2018) that started to show up really affected me. I find myself (thinking) ‘Man, this is already funny? Why did I start to Play this game? Because it was fun.
“There are a lot of other things involved. You make a lot of money and fame and all that. You have to go back to the reason you start playing.”
Bryant will become a free agent after the season that after reaching an agreement with the Puppies for $ 19,500,000 by 2021. He has been the subject of rumors of an exchange as he and the team have been unable to reach a agreement for a longer-term deal. He has also heard criticism for his game, perhaps for the first time in his career. This led the former MVP to let go of his emotions at the end of the 2020 season.
“I care about a poster … me,” Bryant said at the time. “Not really. That’s a good answer. I overcame it. Sometimes I go out and go 4-4 and it’s not good enough for some people, so I don’t care about an expensive … me.”
Bryant hit just 203 last season, but battled injuries and wasn’t the only puppy to have problems in 2020. In fact, he’s had a couple of years of some persistent illnesses that may have helped prevent him from returning to his form of Most Valuable Player.
Bryant is the only player in baseball history to win the College Player of the Year, Junior League Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player award. in four consecutive seasons, from 2013 to 2016. But the last few years have been a struggle, as it has become something like the standard bearer, fair or unfair, of the Cubs ’offensive problems, especially in the postseason.
In the podcast, Bryant recalled the joy of his father meeting him before he got to the plate after connecting his first home run as a child. The six-year veteran wants to rediscover that happiness in the game, though he has indicated that more important things are happening in the world right now.
“I found myself sitting there,‘ I don’t have that joy right now, ’” he stated. “I’m doing everything I can to get back to this place. This year was really hard for me personally, just statistically. Despite that I had a good time (despite the protocols and struggles of COVID). Making the most of a situation terrible. “