Recapping one of the worst starts in sports history

It’s Not Always Smooth Skiing with These Players

Justin Lawrence

The first couple weeks of the season were about as bad as it could get for Justin Lawrence. The sidewinder has nasty stuff with the ability to throw high 90s from his funky arm slot with a banger of a slider. Yet, command can often evade Lawrence, as walks and hittable pitches seem to hinder him at times. This reared its ugly head on Lawrence against the Rays when he was first dubbed the Rockiest Rocky after relinquishing four runs and the lead in the Rockies home opener.

Fortunately, we all know that story ended with McMahon’s grand slam, but it's still a difficult outing to overlook. Lawrence received the dubious award the very next series, giving up two runs and taking the loss after being unable to get the Rockies to the bottom of the ninth with a tied score. Lawrence has since started to get back on track, but for a pitcher who was supposed to be a shutdown closer this season it has been a tough start. Lawrence sits with a 6.00 ERA and two saves entering the Pirates series. 

Kyle Freeland

Freeland joins Lawrence in a tie for the Rockiest Rocky lead with his painful start to the season. Between some blow up starts, getting hurt pinch-running, and ultimately going on the shelf if an elbow injury, 2024 has not been kind to Kyle. Freeland was named Rockiest Rocky in the first series of the year. Freeland was given the ball on opening day and promptly imploded, giving up 10 runs and failing to even get to the third inning.

Freeland followed up this performance with seven runs in 3.1 innings, an improvement from his first start but still not enough to avoid the Rockiest Rocky title for the second series in a row. Freeland’s performance was so bad to start the year that he somehow managed to keep Kris Bryant from getting the title, which should tell you all you need to know. Leading up to his injury, Freeland was sitting with a 13.21 ERA and a 2.55 WHIP in his first four starts. I expect things to be better for Kyle when he returns from the Injured List, but his first month of the season was less than optimal.