DENVER -- The path to playing time isn't always clear for Tyler Freeman, 26, but he has a way of finding it. Freeman was the Guardians’ primary center fielder for much of last season, but he struggled late and was forced out of the postseason by a left oblique strain. He was putting together a strong bid for Cleveland's starting second base job this spring before being traded to Colorado late in Spring Training. “Coming to a new team, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Freeman said. “But my high school coach would say, ‘If you hit, you play.’ And that’s what I’m trying to do. Whether it’s designated hitter, right field, whatever, I’m willing to do it. I have open arms.” |
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Before establishing a role with the Rockies, Freeman sustained another injury to his left oblique in mid April and missed a month. Freeman, though, has turned hot while playing mostly right field. As was the case last year when he moved to center for the Guardians, Freeman had never played in right. But hitting is giving him a chance to learn the position. Freeman’s current hit streak has reached a career-high eight games, during which he is batting .480 (12-for-25) with a 1.319 OPS. “Getting the opportunity to play every day definitely helped,” Freeman said. “After coming off the IL, I worked with the hitting coaches and have just been finding a groove.” Freeman's solid run is a reversal of his 2-for-17 start to the season. “He's just got really good bat-to-ball skills, and he's making it happen,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He looks hot. You just look at him in the box, and he looks like he feels good.” |
Freeman’s identity positionally is just a ballplayer, regardless of where he is on the diamond. Most importantly, Freeman has found his identity as a hitter, and his approach works well low in the lineup. Schaeffer likes him in the No. 9 position to turn over the lineup to leadoff man Jordan Beck. “The big adjustment is just being who I am,” Freeman said. “In years before, I was trying to do way too much, trying to be the player I wasn’t. I was trying to expand my power and trying to expand hitting the ball in the air. “That hurt me in the long run. Now I’m being myself again -- line drives, spraying the ball all over the field and running the bases. My game is getting on base and trying to let the guys drive me in.” |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
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For Tuesday night’s game against the Giants, it’s BOGO Hot Dog Night, presented by Hempler's All Beef Franks. Info here. |
Righty Chase Dollander’s rookie year has hit a snag of inefficiency in his first two starts since returning from right forearm tightness. At Miami on Tuesday, after his 15 days on the injured list, Dollander needed 59 pitches to throw three innings and finished with two runs on two hits and three walks. The bullpen would lift the Rockies to a 3-2 victory. No bullpen could pull him through Sunday. Dollander yielded five runs on eight hits -- including home runs by Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso -- with one walk in three innings. He needed 78 pitches. “To be honest with you, I’m not really doing my job right now,” Dollander said. “I want to be the guy who’s giving the bullpen a break. It’s a little frustrating when I don’t. I just have to keep after it.” |
Dollander has been homer-prone. He is tied for ninth in the Majors with 12 yielded over his 44 2/3 innings. Everyone else who has given up 12 or more has pitched at least 60 1/3 innings. Dollander, 23, said a goal was to improve his efficiency, but he has fallen behind in counts recently. “It all comes back to his command,” Schaeffer said. “He's getting behind in counts. He's been working extremely hard to get back into counts. Has thrown a lot of pitches, and I think that leads to going over the heart of the plate more often than you should. But I mean, there’s all the confidence in the world in Chase Dollander moving forward and being able to make adjustments.” |
Baserunners have been taking liberties with veteran right-hander Germán Márquez to the tune of 10 in his past five starts. The Cubs swiped four on May 27, and the Mets swiped three on Saturday night -- two by Francisco Lindor, who did his running with a broken right pinky toe. Márquez acknowledged that the first Lindor steal was a surprise, but the others by the Mets weren’t. And other teams have picked up on his patterns. “I need to watch my outings -- I need to watch my start, and I need to watch from third base,” Márquez said. |
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• High-A Spokane, one game behind Hillsboro with the Northwest League first-half schedule 10 games from its end, is getting standout hitting from Rockies No. 10 prospect Jared Thomas, who leads the league in batting average (.324) and hits (72), is tied for the lead in runs scored (49), is second in on-base percentage (.434) and is tied for third in stolen bases (19). |
• On Sunday, Rockies No. 1 prospect and MLB Pipeline No. 24 Charlie Condon went 3-for-4 with a double and was at the plate when the winning run of the 9-8 victory over Hillsboro scored on a balk. |
• Rockies No. 18 prospect Kyle Karros, slashing .320/.450/.476 this season, played exclusively at third base defensively throughout his professional career -- until playing first base on Saturday for Double-A Hartford. The Rockies considered sending him to the Arizona Fall League last year after he earned Northwest League MVP honors, but Karros and the team opted for rest after his first full-length Minor League season. Karros, 22, missed nearly three weeks of action at Hartford after fouling a pitch off his right knee. He returned to the Yard Goats on June 3. |
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