3 Rockies players who are putting up eye-catching numbers this spring

Kyle Freeland hates walks...but loves strikeouts

Multiple times we have mentioned the amount of uncertainty surrounding the pitching rotation as a whole Kyle Freeland has been a good pitcher, but slots in more comfortably as the number two or three behind German Marquez and/or Antonio Senzatela. This year, Freeland will be the leader of a very unproven unit and will be expected to carry them.

Freeland seemingly embraced this responsibility this offseason, working out and gaining a lot of strength in his body and shoulder. His velocity has been up about four-to-five miles per hour compared to last year's velocity. A reliance on getting ahead and working to maintain that advantage has played very well this spring.

Leadoff walks kill you, walks with two out skill you, walks late in the game kill you. Being able to limit those, stay in the strike zone, force them to swing the bat and execute pitches is going to turn out all right.

From the quote above, you can tell that Freeland has embraced the mentality to attack hitters and limit walks. Walks are just free base runners and can come back to really haunt you, especially at Coors Field.

This spring, Freeland has thrown 14 innings and while his 14 strikeouts are really impressive, it's the fact that he has surrendered just one walk that is perhaps the most impressive number. This has also translated to really solid numbers across all categories as he has given up just 14 hits with a 3.21 ERA. Freeland's increased velocity has been fun to watch this spring, along with his dominant starts.

Brenton Doyle's offense might match his stellar defense

Brenton Doyle popped last year, but it was mainly on the defensive side. He became one of the best defenders, at any position, in all of baseball last year. He won a gold glove, patrolling the largest outfield in all of baseball.

Where Doyle was one of the best defenders in all of baseball, he really struggled offensively. He slashed just .203/.250/.343, which was good for a 43 wRC+. He posted one of the highest strikeout rates in all of baseball, at 35%. Even with all of that he still hit 10 home runs and stole 22 bases.

This spring, Doyle has made some changes to his swing; he has started to use a medicine ball in hopes of keeping his hands from dropping during the "load" phase. He actually started these adjustments last year, which led to a .261 average in the month of September.

Doyle has kept things rolling with a hot spring. He is slashing .310/.356/.333 with a double, and two stolen bases. The home run numbers aren't there, but fans shouldn't focus on Doyle hitting double digit home runs (though, returning to Coors Field, should help in that deparment).

Perhaps the biggest number to focus on for Doyle is the strikeout numbers. After posting a 35% strikeout rate last year, he has cut that down to just 22.22% this spring. Maybe that number isn't sustainable, but if he can keep it under 30% and hit in that 250-270 range, stealing 20-30 bases and playing his level of defense, we could be looking at a real breakout season. Doyle profiles fairly similar to Kevin Kiermaier and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Doyle become that perennial two-to-three-win player with an occasional four-win year.

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