ST. LOUIS — Kris Bryant has “no clue” how long he’ll be on the disabled list for his ailing left shoulder this time around.
But the 2016 National League MVP knows this much: He will be back this season.
“One thousand percent,” he said. “Without question. Absolutely.”
And this: He’ll be every bit the player he was for the Cubs before he hurt the shoulder in the first place in May.
“Certainly. Totally,” he said before Friday’s series opener against the Cardinals. “There is no doubt in my mind. I’ll be better than that.”
Bryant, who hasn’t played since struggling through pain when he swung the bat in Monday’s game, went on the DL on Thursday for the second time in a month and had a second, precautionary MRI exam. That confirmed the results of the first one: inflammation but no structural damage.
He also had a second cortisone shot in a month and now awaits the green light to start testing the shoulder with swings again.
“It’s just a waiting game for him to get to where he can be comfortable and pain-free and go out and play,” team president Theo Epstein said. “But we’re optimistic he’s on the road back.”
The persistent shoulder issue and consequent downtime has been “frustrating” and “annoying,” Bryant said. But the two-time All-Star third baseman seems to have found a comfort level in the process for making sure the shoulder isn’t a lingering, long-term problem.
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He doesn’t plan to change his swing. “I’ve swung this way my whole life,” he said.
But maybe he won’t do it as often anymore, said Bryant, who has tended at times to overdo his daily work in the batting cage.
He’s also getting used to a maintenance routine that should help strengthen the area around the shoulder joint.
He scoffed at the idea of needing any kind of offseason surgery.
“Hopefully, this just makes me better for the long run and the rest of my career,” he said.
Bryant originally hurt the shoulder on a headfirst slide in May, then played through it until it worsened enough a month later to finally say something — leading to the first DL move. He has just three home runs since that slide, two of them after returning from the DL the first time on July 11.
The shoulder flared up again after a swing last weekend during the Cardinals series, he said.
“Let’s just make sure we get him the right treatments and whatever he needs and then be patient,” manager Joe Maddon said.
