Colorado Rockies: Kyle Freeland Discusses Solid Outing Against Milwaukee

While much of Sunday focused on the return of Chad Bettis to the mound for the Colorado Rockies, Kyle Freeland made an impact in his second outing of the spring.

Following Bettis on the mound, Freeland threw two spotless innings in Milwaukee’s 9-4 Catcus League win on Sunday. It was a vast improvement on his first appearance of the spring when he allowed four runs (three earned) and gave up two hits and walked two in a February 28 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I felt a lot better, especially coming off the last outing,” Freeland said. “I worked on some things in between with a bullpen. I really worked on staying back and that showed today. It paid off. I felt really good out there.”

Colorado manager Bud Black liked what he saw from Freeman on Sunday.

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“That was a highlight today, the way he bounced back from his last outing,” Black said. “Much better delivery. Slowed everything down. Repeated his arm action. Repeated his finish. His stuff was good. A lot of stuff inside to the right-handed hitters with some authority. A couple of nice sliders to the left-handed hitters. He threw well.”

Freeland said the first outing against the Dodgers was a perfect storm of emotions and issues with mechanics that caused issues.

“It was a mixture of both. I was really amped up. Everyone could see it. I felt it,” the 23-year-old southpaw said. “There was also a mechanics part of that too where I was getting so excited that I was getting down the mound too quickly and I needed to clean that up, which I did.”

However, Freeland made it clear he learned from the last outing while putting it in the back of his mind.

“The last outing was definitely in my mind but I wasn’t worried about it,” Freeland said. “I knew I would bounce back. I knew I did the proper work to put me in the right position.

“Today, pretty much everything was working. I was able to go arm side and glove side, both lefties and righties. I commanded down and in and down and away. Offspeed worked well early and late in the counts. Overall, it was a good day.”

Freeland also said he was learning how to pace himself in the spring for the long season that lies ahead, wherever he might be in the Rockies system.

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“You definitely have to not go full blast every single time,” Freeland said. “You know have the rest of spring to go and a full season to go. That’s something you have to keep in mind and sometimes back off a little bit.”

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