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Kyle Freeland, Rockies Reportedly Agree to 5-Year, $64.5M Contract Extension
April 19, 2022
The Colorado Rockies and left-handed starting pitcher Kyle Freeland have reached an agreement on a five-year, $64.5 million contract extension that includes a sixth-year player option, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Freeland, who was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2023 season, has played all six of his MLB campaigns with the Rockies.
The 28-year-old's best performance was in 2018, when he went 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA en route to finishing fourth in National League Cy Young voting.
Freeland and the Rockies were headed for arbitration before reaching an agreement that will keep the pitcher in Denver through 2026. Per Nick Groke of The Athletic, Freeland was looking for $7.8 million. The Rockies offered him $6.4 million.
Freeland was born and raised in Denver before going to the University of Evansville in Indiana. The Rockies selected Freeland eighth overall in the 2014 draft. Three years later, Freeland made his MLB debut.
The southpaw hasn't been able to replicate his 2018 success, but he's still a serviceable pitcher. He went 7-8 with a 4.33 ERA in 23 starts last year.
Freeland pitches half of his games in the hitter-friendly Coors Field, but Groke noted that he's been up to the task.
"Since he debuted in 2017, Freeland has the lowest home ERA among Rockies starters, at 4.53. And his overall park-adjusted ERA+, according to FanGraphs, is the same as [Germán] Márquez’s, representing the best on the team.
"His pitch arsenal seems built for the extreme environment of Coors Field, more dependent on guile, placement and mix than on high spin rates, which can die in the thin air."
He'll be pitching Tuesday when the Rockies welcome Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies to town for an 8:40 p.m. ET game. Right-hander Kyle Gibson will take the mound for the opposition.