With velocity up and a new pitch Freeland finds success

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- "Spring Training games: they matter, but they don't matter."

In that pleasingly pithy statement, Kyle Freeland captured what ballplayers have felt since the advent of Spring Training some 150 years ago.

The numbers in the win-loss column for teams, and even the numbers in the notable statistical categories for pitchers and hitters, don't really matter. They have no official bearing on what happens in the regular season.

But, oh, how Spring Training can matter.

Freeland demonstrated that in his second Cactus League start, holding the Rangers to a run on one hit over three innings in the Rockies' 6-6 tie with Texas at Salt River Fields on Wednesday afternoon.

The veteran left-hander walked one and struck out five, wanting back only the offering he made to Rangers third baseman Davis Wendzel, who drove in a run in the second inning on a two-out double.

Freeland's early themes over his first two spring starts have been significant increases across the board in velocity and the development of a new changeup. It stands to reason since those were his main points during the offseason. And spring is the time to tinker.

After seeing a drop in velocity that contributed to a 5.03 ERA in 2023, Freeland knew he needed to change things up.

"I think Kyle has felt the last couple of years that it's been in there, but it's been frustrating for him with why it hasn't shown up like it did earlier in his career," manager Bud Black said of the velocity. "And he's still right in the prime of his career."

Heading into 2019, it looked like the sky was the limit for Freeland, who was coming off a fourth-place finish in National League Cy Young Award voting in his second Major League season. But he had a disastrous campaign during which he was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque in June to figure things out.

Over the next three seasons, Freeland pitched to a 4.43 ERA (108 ERA+), a far cry from the elite starter we saw in 2018 but also from the one we saw in '19.

As Black noted, Freeland is still in his prime years. Could we see a second act?

The early signs are that Freeland's rightly conservative word for this time of year is "encouraging." His four-seam fastball averaged 92.6 mph on Wednesday, nearly 4 mph, up from his 88.8 mph average in 2023. His sinker and slider showed similar upticks.

Freeland credits a change in his approach to shoulder care and strengthening in the offseason.

"It was doing something different, doing a little more," he said. "It's definitely paid off, as we're seeing right now through my first [two] outings."

And the changeup, a pitch that has vexed him throughout his career, is finally showing promise thanks to a new grip.

"There's a lot that goes into it," Freeland said. "How comfortable you are with the grip, some of the results you're getting -- whether it's on TrackMan or against a hitter -- or just throwing a normal bullpen to see that movement profile.

"It' s about being able to take those numbers off TrackMan and digest them and understand 'Why it's moving like that, why it's spinning like that and how can we change the spin to get it to where we want it to be?'"

It's early, but everything seems to be where Freeland wants it to be. The question is: Will he sustain the trend? And a follow-up would be: Can he recapture some of the Freeland of old -- the one who posted a 3.39 ERA over his first two MLB seasons?

Affirmative responses to those queries would go a long way toward keeping a starting rotation afloat. The team will be without right-handers Germán Márquez and Antonio Senzatela (both recovering from Tommy John surgery). Márquez isn't expected back until at least midseason, and Senzatela is expected to miss the entire campaign.

As things stand now, the options behind Freeland prompt more questions than answers, with the mercurial Austin Gomber, newcomers Dakota Hudson and Cal Quantrill and a collection of young hurlers trying to establish themselves in the Majors behind him.

We'll see what happens. But so far, so great for Freeland. There's just one problem with success in the spring.

"You want to see failure," Freeland said, "because you learn from that."