Freeland looking to create consistent release

DENVER -- Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland says that he's paying more attention to correcting the struggles of the last two starts than looking for a blame point at the reasons for them.

Freeland has given up 13 runs, including an alarming five homers, in 12 innings in losses at Milwaukee and at home to Arizona. Those games came after he missed a start with a left middle finger blister.

“I don’t think the blister or me thinking about my finger has anything to do with it,” said Freeland, scheduled to start Thursday against the Giants at Coors Field. “At that moment, when I’m throwing a pitch, I’m committed to the pitch. Whatever happens, happens. I’m not worried that, ‘A blister might happen right here on this pitch.’ I’m thinking about executing this pitch.”

But after finishing fourth in the National League Cy Young Award voting last year, Freeland (2-5, 5.90 ERA) isn’t executing. And Rockies manager Bud Black -- along with pitching coach Steve Foster and Freeland, himself -- have pinpointed a correctable issue.

"His pitches have been hung. He’s got to get the ball down,” Black said. “There’s a groundball component to his game that he’s not taking advantage of because the ball’s elevated. Now, elevated pitches are just a matter of release point.”

A quick Statcast comparison of each of the five homers (two on four-seam fastballs, two sliders and one changeup), compared to balls hit into outs while using the same pitch (12 four-seamers, four sliders, two changeups), points directly to release point.

The release points compared were vertical, or the distance the ball was from the ground when it left his hand, and horizontal, or the distance of the hand from his body.

Fastball

Home runs: 5.89 feet vertical, 1.43 feet horizontal
Field outs: 5.79 feet vertical, 1.46 feet horizontal
Problem: Higher and slightly narrower release

Slider

Home runs: 5.60 feet vertical, 1.79 feet horizontal
Field outs: 5.49 feet vertical, 1.89 feet horizontal
Problem: Higher and narrower release

Changeup

Home run: 5.74 feet vertical, 1.51 feet horizontal
Field outs: 5.84 feet vertical, 1.67 feet horizontal
Problem: Lower and narrower release

"We are in a good spot -- look for some changes with Kyle in those areas soon,” Foster said.

Freeland said that during his sessions while recovering he could have slipped into “maybe some habits that I wasn’t aware about, just my body protecting itself without me thinking about it.”

But the key is that, with full confidence in the health of his finger, he spent the last several days making corrections.

“There could be a million different things of why,” Freeland said. “It all comes down to executing your pitches, having good outings and holding a team at bay and giving your team a chance to win.”

Balancing the barrels: With four outfielders, Black believes he can play hot streaks -- or potential hot streaks. Which brings us to Ian Desmond, with his .198 batting average.

According to Statcast, Desmond ranks third on the team in barrel rate – with a “barrel” considered a batted ball with the ideal combination of exit velocity and launch angle that usually results in extra-base hits, behind David Dahl and catcher Chris Iannetta.

“In layman’s terms, he’s unlucky,” Black said. “A lot of us see every pitch and watch every game. So we know what he’s doing, and he’s hit into some tough luck. But that’s baseball. Hopefully, over time some of those hard-hit balls become hits and even some balls that aren’t hit hard become hits as well.

“It’s getting Desi in and Tap [Raimel Tapia] has a little bit of a hot hand. David will be in there tomorrow.”

Weather: With wet skies forecast for Thursday, Black has held off on announcing starters for the series Friday-Sunday against the Padres at Coors Field.