Kyle Freeland

BIOGRAPHY

Kyle Freeland was born May 14, 1993, in Denver, Colorado. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

Considered a top prospect for the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, the Colorado Rockies selected Freeland in the first round, with the eighth overall pick, of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft. Freeland spent 2014 with both the Grand Junction Rockies and the Asheville Tourists, where he posted a combined 3–0 record with a 1.15 ERA between both teams.

Freeland made his major league debut with the Rockies on April 7, 2017, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and earned his first win. He also had his first major league hit, a single. His appearance marked the first time in 51 years that a starting pitcher made his Major League debut "in his team's home opener in the state in which he was born"; Chuck Dobson accomplished the feat for the Kansas City Athletics in 1966. Freeland hit his first major league home run on May 21, 2017, against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo. On July 9, Freeland took a no-hitter into the 9th inning against the Chicago White Sox before giving up a single to Melky Cabrera with one out.

Freeland went on to start the 2018 National League Wild Card Game. He pitched 6.2 shutout innings in which he struck out six while allowing four hits and one walk as the Rockies defeated the Chicago Cubs 2–1 in 13 innings, the longest postseason elimination game in baseball history. Freeland also became the first Rockies pitcher to have a scoreless start in a postseason game.

Freeland started the 2019 season going 2–6 with a 7.13 ERA through 12 starts before being demoted to AAA on May 31. He was called back later in the month of June. Freeland ended with a 3–11 record with a 6.73 ERA in 22 starts.

Freeland had a bounce-back season in 2020. Freeland was one of the Rockies most dependable starters in the shortened 60-game season. Despite a poor final outing, in 13 starts, he went 2–3 with a 4.33 ERA, led the NL in quality starts with 9, and led all of MLB in induced double plays with 15. He had the lowest strikeout/walk ratio of all NL qualified pitchers, at 2.0, and finished with a top 10 WAR among National League pitchers, at 2.2. Freeland began the 2021 season on the disabled list, missing the first month of the season. He ended the season with a 7–8 record in 23 starts. He struck out 105 batters in 120+2⁄3 innings.

In 2022, Freeland was 9-11 with a 4.63 ERA in 31 starts covering 174.2 innings, led the major leagues in sacrifice flies allowed, with nine, and led the majors in triples allowed, with eight. Batters also had an on base percentage against him of .342, the highest against any MLB qualified pitcher.