This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding's Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
DENVER -- Always up for something new, left-hander Kyle Freeland is a Pied Piper for the new energy around the Rockies in 2026.
“With the ideas and the changes that we’re making, I’ve been speaking to our younger guys and letting them know this is a very big breath of fresh air,” said Freeland, who is heading into his 10th season in the rotation. “Having guys come in, wanting to completely change how we’re doing this and take this in a completely different direction, I’m bought in.”
There is a new front office, and the pitching portion of the coaching staff has changed entirely. Freeland helped pitch the Rockies to the postseason in his first two seasons (2017 and 2018) but has since dealt with dramatic ups and downs -- with Colorado’s 43-119 record last season being the ultimate down.
“We needed a large change, or else this would have continued to repeat over and over again,” Freeland said. “We might have better years than others, but ultimately, it didn’t really look like it was going to be good.”
Freeland, who turns 33 on May 14, has never been one to do things the same way and expect different results.
After those strong first two seasons, Freeland struggled in 2019 to the point where he was optioned to Triple-A. He saved his career by developing a changeup, even if it meant taking a beating at pitcher-unfriendly Albuquerque. Injuries to his left shoulder and right oblique led to changes in his throwing and workout programs. He has never been afraid to tinker with his pitches.
Freeland began last season convinced that the Rockies could turn the corner and was crushed when it didn’t happen. But he was always looking for a new way, and he believes he found it late.
During the final months of the season, manager Warren Schaeffer changed the role of manager of performance sciences Brandon Stone, a biomechanics expert, from on-and-off presence to permanent part of the Major League staff. Stone, pitching analyst Chris Bonk and the rest of the coaching staff met with pitchers after each outing.
That all-hands study led Stone and then-bullpen coach Dustin Garneau, now the Braves’ catching coach, to suggest a change in Freeland’s posture at the top of his windup.
“We basically put me into more of a ‘coil’ instead of a leg lift, which allowed me to hold that tension in my back hip and back knee as I started moving down the mound,” Freeland said. “That allowed me to hide the baseball better, allowed me to come out cleaner and crisper. It allowed much more consistency with my pitch mix.”
Freeland unveiled the changes on Aug. 28, when he gave up three runs on eight hits while striking out six against no walks in six innings of a 4-3 loss to the Astros. In 31 starts overall, Freeland posted a 4.98 ERA with 124 strikeouts against 38 walks. But in the seven starts with the new start-up to his motion, he recorded a 3.86 ERA and 33 strikeouts against four walks. That final snippet included two duds -- one when he was ejected two batters into a start against the Giants, and a 6-5 loss to the Marlins that saw him yield six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.
“When the information was provided to me, I was able to understand and immediately apply it to my game, and it was great to see it pay off quickly,” Freeland said.
Freeland is due $16 million in 2026 -- the final year of his five-year, $64.5 million contract, although a $17 million player option for 2027 kicks in if he throws 170 innings this year. (He reached 162 2/3 innings in 2025.)
Freeland has been energized by recent conversations with new pitching coach Alon Leichman, who has been an assistant with the Reds and Marlins, and assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas, who has received high marks for his pitch design for pupils in the Dodgers and Tigers systems.
It’s not known how dramatically different the Rockies will be. Last season, Leichman took part in the Marlins’ experiment of calling pitches from the dugout, and Miami pitchers sometimes threw live batting practice instead of easy bullpens between starts. But Leichman’s history shows that pitchers have a voice in how things are done.
“Everyone seems to be hungry and in the right mindset,” Leichman said. “That’s going to all get tested.”
Freeland is fully on board with a more dynamic way of catch-play with various arm angles and body positions, as part of the throwing program – or, as he said, “being athletic … not being so robotic, doing the same thing over and over.”
Any route that takes the Rockies forward to winning ways is fine with Freeland.
“The coaches we’ve brought on board are excited to make these changes, try different things and see what works -- since we’re the only team at altitude, and we’ve got to be unique,” Freeland said. “That’s our mental approach. We’re not going to focus on the past.”