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Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland, whom they drafted with the #8 overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft and gave a five-year, $64.5 million contract to in 2022, was the team’s opening-day starter this season. And on Monday, April 15 against the Philadelphia Phillies, he appeared to suffer a nasty injury in a collision at home plate.
Freeland, however, didn’t look like he suffered from the usual pitcher injury — you know the ones, an injury to the tendon in their wrist, elbow, or shoulder — but rather, a broken arm or a dislocated shoulder, as the team decided to use him as a pinch runner in their 17th game of the season, which also saw their record fall to a dismal 4-13, putting them in the basement of the highly-competitive National League West.
Despite what the caption in the below video says, however, Rockies manager Bud Black said after the game that, somehow, Freeland is “ok”, according to ESPN.
Kyle Freeland came on as a pinch runner in ninth bc several players under the weather for #Rockies. Freeland looked like popped out right shoulder (non-throwing arm) on slide. Hopefully he’s OK. He appeared to be as he returned to dugout and let the ump have it as out call was… pic.twitter.com/yjBLcY6F0y
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) April 16, 2024
“We’re trying to win the game,” Black said of his decision when speaking to the media. “Kyle is an athlete. He’s hit. He’s run. He’s one of our fastest players.”
Despite Freeland apparently escaping without injury and Black’s logic, it’s still a massive risk nonetheless to risk one of your core starting pitchers when you’re a professional MLB team that should have more than enough “athletes” to run the bases.
Black, 66 years old, has been with the team since 2016. While Black was able to lead the team to the postseason in his first two seasons as manager, the Rockies have finished either 4th or 5th in the NL West for five straight seasons, with a sixth likely to follow this year.
While Freeland has been a fixture of the Rockies’ organization since 2017, he, similar to Black, also peaked in 2017 and 2018 and hasn’t posted a winning record since.