DENVER -- Rockies left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland has traveled a long way without really leaving his neighborhood.

Freeland was honored Monday when his high school, Denver’s Thomas Jefferson, retired his No. 21 at a school assembly. He wore it in the T.J. Spartans’ brown and gold, kept it through a collegiate career at the University of Evansville and switched from the No. 31 he was assigned during his 2016 rookie year to No. 21 last season.

For Freeland, No. 21 was not because of some big league idol, but rather a guy from the neighborhood.

“I got it my sophomore year -- it was handed down to me after a senior graduated, Brett Nathan,” said Freeland, who talked to Nathan on Monday morning. “He was in my brother’s class. He grew up with my brother. I grew up with him. He was a guy I looked up to as an athlete. He turned your head on the field. Whenever something was going on, you were going to watch him, because something special was going to happen.

“I kept that number all the way through high school, college and the Rockies.”

Since breaking through in the Majors, Freeland has kept his neighborhood in his heart.

After his rookie year, Freeland participated in a Rockies Winter Caravan visit to his primary school, Holm Elementary, where his mother still works. He also has distributed backpacks and school supplies, hosted a field day for elementary school children and is planning a youth camp for July 1 on the grounds of his high school.

Youth and high school baseball -- all sports, for that matter -- are more transient than ever. Travel teams pick up children like free agents, and top middle school athletes often go through a recruiting process before going to high school. While this works for many, it also makes sports more expensive and more pressure-packed, which can lead to burnout.

But Freeland’s story proves that baseball with friends can be fun, and if you’re good enough, you will be found.

As a child, Freeland participated in the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) Program, an MLB initiative.

“It shows, one, it works -- it’s been going on for quite some time now,” Freeland said. “Two, people enjoy being part of that program. I know I loved my time doing it. I did for a couple summers with my friends. We had a good time and played competitive baseball, which was great. It was a lot of fun.”

Programs such as RBI are necessary because the game has become more suburban, where the performance facilities that provide the coaching and field the travel teams are often located.

But Freeland has always been close to his family and the neighborhood. In a sense, maybe not being identified as a star early helped him develop at his pace and allowed him and his community to form such a bond.

“T.J. was always the decision,” Freeland said. “My brother went here. He’s three years older. All my friends who had older brothers that went here, we all knew each other from young ages just because of our brothers. Everyone was always on track to go to T.J. It was never a thought in my mind that I’d go somewhere else. 

“I was never recruited to go anywhere else, never wanted to go anywhere else. It was the coolest thing, to wear these colors.”