Rockies-D-backs Opening Day starting pitchers: Freeland vs. Gallen

The Rockies and D-backs will get the 2024 season underway against each other on March 28 at Chase Field.

The D-backs are coming off an 84-win season in which they qualified for the postseason by a single game, then went on a magical run to the World Series before losing to the Rangers in five games.

The Rockies, meanwhile, are looking to rebound from the first 100-loss season in franchise history. The D-backs used a number of young homegrown players in their run to the World Series last year, and the Rockies are banking on some of the young talent they have to get back to their winning ways.

LHP Kyle Freeland
Previous Opening Day starts: 2019 and ‘22, both with Rockies
2023 season: 6-14, 5.03 ERA in 29 games/starts

Freeland, 30, reported to Spring Training a different pitcher from last year, when he struggled through a notable drop in fastball velocity for much of the year, and fell victim to poor run support when he pitched well.

The Denver native was able to bring his fastball velocity back to the level of 2017-18, when he was part of two Rockies teams that made the postseason, because of shoulder maintenance over the offseason. A career-long search for the proper changeup grip has yielded results as well. Through four Cactus League starts, he has 14 strikeouts to just one walk.

In the third year of a five-year, $64.5 million deal (with a 2027 vesting option), Freeland has grown to where he can step outside the often solitary mode of a pitcher and serve as a leader.

“I’ve been watching him over the previous seven seasons grow into a guy I can bounce things off, and he can bounce things off me outside of baseball,” manager Bud Black said. “Obviously, a lot of it is baseball because it relates to the team. But like Charlie Blackmon and a few other guys, I trust Kyle and the messaging he sends to players in conversations about baseball, where we’re heading and where we’re trying to get.

“He’s embraced that. There’s no better advocate for this organization than Kyle, who grew up a Rockies fan rooting for our team -- and now he plays for it.”

In the ‘19 opener, Freeland held the Marlins to one run on two hits and struck out five across seven innings in a 6-3 Rockies victory in Miami. In ‘22, he went 3 2/3 innings and gave up five runs in a 5-3 home loss to the Dodgers.

RHP Zac Gallen
Previous Opening Day starts: 2023
2023 season: 17-9, 3.47 ERA in 34 games/starts

For the second straight season, Gallen will get the ball for the D-backs in the season opener. The 28-year-old is coming off an outstanding ‘23 season which resulted in a third-place finish in the National League Cy Young Award voting.

Gallen threw a career-high 210 innings during the regular season and another 33 2/3 in the postseason, culminating with 6 1/3 innings (one run) in Game 5 of the World Series.

Because of that workload, the D-backs brought Gallen along slowly this spring with his first Cactus League start not coming until March 7. Despite the abbreviated spring, Gallen looked sharp in his start Sunday and with one more start until Opening Day, he said he is right on track.

“I’m feeling good and it’s all starting to narrow into a range, so I feel pretty solid,” Gallen said after his outing on Sunday. “Obviously, there’s more work left to be done and it’s a long season. Nothing in Spring Training counts, but it’s good to have a solid foundation.”