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The Rockies have leaned heavily on their rotation, which ranked fifth in the majors in innings through Wednesday. They have followed the leaguewide trend of reducing their usage of sinkers, even though the pitch could theoretically mitigate the impact of Coors Field by producing ground balls. This year’s staff has produced the most strikeouts and the lowest WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) in club history.
“The spin rate, the swing-and-miss, those things are important to us,” said the pitching coach Steve Foster, who also emphasizes mental toughness. “Our mantra is that altitude matters, but attitude matters more.”
Freeland was 11-11 with a 4.10 E.R.A. as a rookie last season, but now he is throwing more changeups, fewer sinkers and locating masterfully on the corners; he entered September with the majors’ lowest percentage of pitches down the middle, according to Fangraphs.
“If I want to go in, it’s a mentality of setting my mind to throw it in, almost like you’re going to will it there,” Freeland said. “It’s a matter of having a feel on both sides of the dish, trusting my catcher, executing our plan and just feeling where those pitches are going out of my fingertips.”
Freeland is also staying strong after fading last season and falling off the Rockies’ wild-card roster. He realized that the toe-tap in his delivery was keeping him from properly loading his weight, and now he pauses during his leg lift to keep a balanced foundation. He is also pitching from the third base side of the rubber again, which keeps him from throwing across his body and makes it easier to hit the corners.
Beyond the mechanical changes is a competitive streak that shows up on the mound and off.
“It’s funny, we were playing cornhole at a teammate’s house, and he needed to make a few shots and it was just — boom, boom, boom,” catcher Chris Iannetta said. “He’s one of those guys you just don’t want to play any type of sport against. He’s going to just rise above and find a way.”
Rising above is a fitting term for Freeland, who has “5280” tattooed on his right arm in reference to his hometown’s elevation, in feet, above sea level. He also has a lyric from “Victory Music,” a song by Machine Gun Kelly: “My city told me they needed me, so I’m grindin’ for that,” it says, with the script trailing off to form a mountain range.