Colorado Rockies: The keys to Kyle Freeland's rejuvenating July

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CINCINNATI, OH – JUNE 11: Kyle Freeland #21 of the Colorado Rockies pitches during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on June 11, 2021 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /

Blisters be damned, our boy Kyle Freeland is back!

As our own Kevin Henry wrote about over the weekend, Freeland has been on a roll in his past six starts. He’s rolling with an ERA of 2.06, an FIP of 2.87 and is limiting batters to a slash line of .219/.265/.320 in that timespan, which is an OPS of .585! That’s just a touch below the Colorado Rockies’ current road OPS, but I digress.

Freeland’s resurgence has been a breath of fresh air in a month where trade talks with the Rockies (or a lack thereof) have dominated the conversation. After coming back from injury, his start to the season was less than lackluster as hitters walloped him for a slash line of .400/.471/.767, which is an OPS of 1.238 and that’s just a little below the OPS that Barry Bonds posted up in 2003.

From prime Barry Bonds to current road Rockies … THAT is the turnaround Kyle Freeland’s made over his last six starts.

So how has it all happened for Colorado Rockies starter Kyle Freeland?

Well if we take a look at Freeland’s pitch mix, the biggest thing to notice is a recent drop in usage on his slider and changeup. There’s also a rise in the usage of his other pitches, most specifically his 4-seam fastball and his curveball:

Kyle Freeland's pitch mix by month for 2021 pic.twitter.com/qkAIHGH6Sm
— Kevin (Prime Time Fanatic) (@_Kevlar23_) July 29, 2021

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There’s a good reason for that too. When Freeland was prioritizing his changeup early on, hitters were hitting pretty effectively against it. They posted up a wOBA of .383 in May (when he threw it 29.1% of the time) and in June that rose to a wOBA of .737! Luckily, Freeland recognized hitters were crushing it and the usage on the changeup dropped to 18.1%. That usage has stayed fairly flat in July and Freeland’s in a great spot with it as hitters are now only tagging it for a wOBA of .252, much improved from months prior.

As for the slider, this is the pitch that hitters have continually hit well against Freeland this season. They have gotten a bit lucky against it, though, posting up a wOBA of .448 against Freeland’s slider while having an xwOBA against it of just .328, easily the largest gap for any of Freeland’s pitches this season. Freeland’s responded to this by dropping his usage on this pitch from 30.0% in June to just 21.5% in July.

Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland /

In return, Freeland has prioritized using his curveball more in big spots. Its usage has jumped up from just 7.6% in May to 13.6% in June and 17.5% in July. Limiting it in May was smart for Freeland as hitters raked for a wOBA of .803 against it in May, but hitters didn’t get a single hit against it in June in 17 at-bats and they have a wOBA of just .167 against it in July.

This has also become his strikeout pitch over the past couple months, striking out eight batters in each of June and July. His next best putout pitch is his slider, but that’s tallied only nine total strikeouts in the past two months compared to the 16 strikeouts his curveball has notched. As soon as Freeland found his curve, he became more dominant of a pitcher.

Over the last two seasons he’s certainly focused on his curveball as well. While it was not a priority early in his career, he’s worked on making it one of his more dominant pitches as the vertical movement on his curve has jumped a ton over the past two seasons:

Vertical movement for Freeland's pitches by season. What do you notice? pic.twitter.com/rWbXP5w6tF
— Kevin (Prime Time Fanatic) (@_Kevlar23_) July 29, 2021

Outside of his curve, though, his 4-seam fastball has taken precedence in July. He’s throwing it 28% of the time this month and hitters are only putting up a wOBA of .196 against it. That’s a fantastic number for your most common pitch and it shows Freeland’s doing something to keep hitters from making good contact against it, whether that be sequencing in his pitches, overall movement on his fastball (which isn’t likely with a 4-seam fastball) or he’s hiding the ball well in his delivery. Whatever’s happening, he’s getting results.

All this leads to one of Freeland’s strengths when he’s rolling: Limiting the amount of hard hits and barrels that hitters are getting off of him. Since June 22, his Hard Hit % is just 29.6% and his Barrel % is just 3.1%. That Barrel % ranks 10th in the MLB in that timeframe (Marquez is 1st at 1.0%) and that Hard Hit % ranks 13th. All that is to say that Freeland’s change in his pitch mix has given him really, really good results.

In a dark, confounding season of Rockies baseball, Kyle Freeland’s recent resurgence has been a sight for sore eyes. There may not be much to root for with the Rockies in coming months, but Freeland’s continued success will be something I’m pulling for every outing.

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