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What Does Future Hold for Freeland With Rockies?
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- What Does Future Hold for Freeland With Rockies?
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
Kyle Freeland has been a part of the Colorado Rockies ' organization since he was a first-round (No. 8 overall) pick in the 2012 MLB Draft out of Evansville. He's also a native of Denver, too, giving him a solid connection to the franchise.
He just completed his 10th season with Colorado and he's battled through injuries throughout his career. Last season, Freeland finished with a less-than-impressive 4-12 record and a 6.65 ERA.
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In 2017, he finished his first MLB season with an 11-11 record, followed up by a 17-7 mark in 2018. That pretty much set Freeland up for a promising future with the ballclub. Unfortunately, that 2018 season was the last one where he had a winning record. Freeland also pitched 202.1 innings in 2018, his high-water mark when pitching in one season.
Freeland's struggled with Rockies
Since then, he hasn't posted a winning record. In 2018, Freeland finished with a 2.85 ERA, but sat around the 5.00 or 6.00 ERA level from then forward.
In six of his 10 MLB seasons, Freeland posted 100-plus strikeouts. Last season, he finished with 108 strikeouts with a WHIP of 1.52.
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Now, with all of that data and information, the Rockies are facing a rebuild that includes the franchise's pitching staff. Starters just were not able to go long in their outings last season, putting a lot of pressure on the team's relieving corps.
Freeland was among those who just had trouble going long in games. He did pitch a complete game at Coors Field for the first time in his career. That was a big feather in his cap, for sure.
According to Spotrac , back in 2022, Freeland signed a five-year, $64,500,000 contract with the Rockies, including $64,500,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $12,900,000.
Will Colorado choose to keep Freeland?
In looking at his Baseball Savant profile from last season, Freeland ranked incredibly low in all pitching percentile rankings. The lone places where he was among the great levels were in pitching chase percentage (33.9%) and walk percentage (4.7%).
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What the Rockies have to weigh going forward is whether Freeland deserves another contract. Does he have the presence and veteran leadership that can help a new pitching corps? It might be a tough decision for Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta to make.
Freeland, being from Denver himself, offer that direct connection between the ballclub's hometown and the team itself.
If you are looking at his production, though, keeping Freeland around doesn't really make a lot of sense. The Rockies want to win right now, doing whatever is needed to move forward. Freeland has history with Colorado, of course. The numbers, though, do not add up in his favor.
