SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Rockies veteran Kris Bryant on Friday pushed back against the notion that he was disparaging the team’s prospects when quoted in an article published by The Athletic (subscription required) earlier this week.

“I know who I am and what I represent,” Bryant said. “I don’t believe in [piling] on your players or human beings in general. That is not something I would ever do.

“And I would have no room to even say anything like that, considering how my last two years have gone. For me to have the audacity to say something like, ‘Ooh, our players aren't good.’ I'm gonna say something like that after not performing and not being on the field like that is never how I would ever come across.”

The article traced Bryant’s journey from a much-hyped prospect with the Cubs to his injury-plagued years with the Rockies. As part of that, the article revisited Bryant’s rushed free agency after the 2022 lockout. Bryant signed his seven-year, $182 million contract on March 18 of that year, after Spring Training had started.

Bryant was quoted in The Athletic as saying: “It’s like, ‘Oh shoot, I need to get there [to Spring Training]. There were other teams interested, but I didn’t want to wait around … It was a completely different situation for a lot of free agents at the time. I guess I didn’t do as much research into the prospects as I could.”

Bryant did not say he was misquoted -- “I probably said it, but context is everything,” Bryant said -- but insisted that his statement was meant to be about the rush to get into camp, not about regret for signing with the Rockies.

“I wanted it to be known that I wish it was normal so I knew who was here -- the good players,” Bryant said. “I’m not saying that they’re not good. It’s the weirdest thing to me, because they’re really, really good. I think they need more credit.

“You had interested teams before the lockout, the lockout happens and you don’t know who’s going to be interested when you come out of it. For me, I like to be prepared. I like to be at Spring Training, get my feet on the ground. Honestly, I am so happy with this decision. I love everything about this organization. How they treat people with respect. You don’t find that a lot in baseball. It’s really unfortunate something like this has come about.”

The supposition that Bryant -- who has been limited to 102 games because of a myriad of injuries -- thought the younger players were of low quality was contrary to what he has been saying about the group for some time. For example, Bryant had enough buy-in with outfielder Nolan Jones that he purchased a Rolex when Jones reached certain statistical thresholds.

Center fielder Brenton Doyle earned a Gold Glove award last year as a rookie, shortstop Ezequiel Tovar was a Gold Glove finalist as a rookie and Jones (obtained in a trade with the Guardians after the 2022 season) had a monster year. There are a number of power-hitting draftees and international signings that have yet to reach Triple-A. Also, last year, four high Draft choices or top pitching prospects underwent Tommy John elbow surgery, so the full impact on the Major League club was delayed.

Bryant insisted Friday he is all in with all that.

“When I signed, I didn’t know who Brenton Doyle was,” he said. “I didn’t know Elehuris Montero. I didn’t know Ezequiel Tovar. I didn’t know [infield prospect] Adael Amador. Some got drafted while I was here, like [pitching prospect] Jaden Hill and [outfield prospect] Jordan Beck. Now I’m getting a chance to see what they can do.

“It’s absolutely asinine that I would put myself in a position to say our prospects aren't good. I have too much respect for baseball and too much respect for the players and people around me that put in the hard work every single day.”

Bryant requested to be interviewed before Friday’s game against the Mariners. He also discussed the situation with manager Bud Black and general manager Bill Schmidt, who when approached about the story greeted the quote with little more than a shrug. Bryant also said he planned to address the team.