3 Rockies pitchers who need to step up with the Kyle Freeland injury news

The biggest weakness on this Rockies team was dealt a huge blow when the Colorado native, Kyle Freeland, was diagnosed with a left elbow strain. Now, the team isn't expected to compete, so it's not like this really changes the trajectory of the season. In fact, trying to keep the positive vibes, it could give the Rockies an opportunity to look at some other starting pitchers to see if they have a potential arm beyond this year. With guys like Dakota Hudson and Cal Quantrill on short term deals, this could be very valuable.

Losing a leader in the clubhouse and fan favorite is going to be really hard to deal with. Hopefully Freeland's injury is just the month to six weeks like Bud Black stated and not a significant injury like the Spencer Strider or Shane Beiber injury. Today we want to look at what this opportunity might provide and who needs to take advantage of this for however long it will be (please only be the four to six weeks...fingers crossed).

Peter Lambert

The obvious one here is Lambert. The righty made 11 starts in 2023 and was the teams swing man on the 2024 roster, and he was really good at it. Lambert has made six appearances, throwing 11.2 innings, giving Bud Black a solid bridge to the bullpen. He only struck out 7.7 per nine and his walk rate increased to 4.6 per nine so far. But Lambert's been able to produce a 94th percentile ground ball rate that has allowed him to really limit the damage against him.

Lambert is still under club control through next year, but this could be about as good of an opportunity as any to prove that he should have a long-term spot in this rotation. The Rockies really lack talent in their rotation and while they are certainly acquiring and developing young pitching talent, they need some solid guys right now. Lambert is a good fill-in option for Freeland, but he could show that he has the ability to become a starter that gets 25+ starts a year.