This Rockies Starter Will Get His Third Shot at Opening Day

Kyle Freeland Gets the Opening Day Start

Previous Opening Day starts: 2019 and 2022, both with the Rockies

2023 season: 6-14, 5.03 ERA in 29 starts

Freeland is in the third year of a five-year, $64.5 million contract. In the 2019 opener, Freeland pulled out the win on the road against the Miami Marlins. He held the Marlins to one run on two hits and struck out five across seven innings. In 2022, it was a different outcome for Freeland and the Rockies. He went 3 2/3 innings as he coughed up five runs in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Freeland, 30, has spent his entire career with the Rockies. It was the clear choice for manager Bud Black to hand the ball to the left-hander as Márquez and Antonio Senzatela are recovering from Tommy John surgery. This can give Freeland the chance to step outside the box and serve as a leader.

While facing Arizona, the seven-year Rockies starter has recorded a 5.35 ERA and 73 strikeouts. He’s never pitched more than seven innings against the D-Backs. Freeland will be up against Zac Gallen, who is coming off a fantastic 2023 season where he finished third in the NL Cy Young Award voting. Gallen threw a career-high 210 innings during the regular season.