Entering Year 9 with Rox, Freeland still energized by challenges

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. ¨C Left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland¡¯s idea of excitement is attacking something others would rather not try. That would be pitching for the Rockies and constantly tinkering to combat the head-turning effects of altitude.

Freeland has done it successfully. He pitched in the postseason his first two seasons and finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting in 2018. He¡¯s been paid well for it, thanks to a five-year, $64.5 million contract extension he received in 2022.

But Coors Field and the rigors of Denver have turned on Freeland. There was a chastening option to Triple-A Albuquerque in 2019, inconsistency and poor luck since he signed the deal and a lengthy absence with a left elbow strain last season.

The injury occurred with his ERA through four starts at an unsightly 13.21. However, Freeland returned in much better form and pitched to a 3.96 ERA over his final 17 starts.

Through it all, Denver has been more than his hometown. It¡¯s his happy place, even if it¡¯s a place with such a daunting reputation that established starters rarely choose to sign with the Rockies.

Freeland, who will turn 32 on May 14, chose to stay, partly because he loves the challenge of finding new ways to evolve.

When he speaks of the Rockies¡¯ plight, his words are daunting. But they¡¯re spoken with a conviction that there will be joy.

¡°You¡¯ve got to buy in and understand that we¡¯re the only team that plays in this elevation for half of our games, so we have to deal with going on the road, making adjustments and coming back home and making adjustments every three to seven to 11 days,¡± Freeland said. ¡°And it¡¯s not easy.¡±

But, remember, Freeland trusts that there will be joy.

¡°It¡¯s going to make it that much sweeter in the end when we¡¯re doing just what we were doing in 2017 and 2018, when we knew that no matter who comes to our park, we were going to beat them,¡± he said.

So how do starters for a team that¡¯s lost over 100 games the last two years find a way to believe?

Evolve, like Freeland.

¡°I like to see myself as more knowledgeable, more polished as a pitcher and as a teammate than I was my first couple years,¡± he said.

In his first Cactus League start of 2025, Freeland allowed two hits over two scoreless innings in a 6-1 split-squad victory over the Brewers (the other squad lost to the Athletics, 4-0, at Mesa, Ariz.). Freeland¡¯s outing was a combination of where he wanted to be before last year¡¯s elbow injury and where he wants to go in the future.

Last year, Freeland showed up with greater fastball velocity than at any point since the early part of his career, when he mostly pounded right-handed batters inside with a fastball and hard slider. The harder fastball velocity and the more mature pitch mix were supposed to make Freeland dominant.

Instead, Opening Night was a pratfall ¨C 10 runs and 10 hits yielded to the D-backs in the worst start of Freeland¡¯s career.

Freeland suspected too much offseason throwing affected his health and led to bad habits. This year, he feels his arm is fresher and his mechanics are sound.

On Sunday, he showed fastballs a tick below 93 mph on the four-seam and slightly below 92 on the two-seam, after seeing dips into the 80s in 2023. He also mixed his slider, changeup ¨C the pitch that alternately worked with and against him earlier in his career ¨C and a curveball that took years to perfect because of an arm slot that¡¯s lower than ideal for the pitch.

But he finished the outing by striking out left-handed-hitting Ernesto Martinez Jr. on his new pitch ¨C a manipulated slider that has characteristics of a sweeper.

¡°It's the same grip as my curveball,¡± Freeland said. ¡°We're just seam-orientating it a little bit differently, throwing it exactly the same, but it's got a little more horizontal movement to it. From speaking with our hitters, it's showing some things out of my hand that they haven't seen, which is a positive for me.¡±

Zone awareness
Improved strike zone awareness could allow shortstop Ezequiel Tovar to reach the stardom the Rockies believe should be his already. Tovar hit 26 homers and an NL-leading 45 doubles last year, but had a club-record 200 strikeouts. But this weekend, he walked once on Saturday and twice on Sunday, with a successful ABS challenge involved in one of the walks.