Kyle Freeland couldn’t have asked for a much better 2017. The Denver native made his MLB debut, flirted with a no-hitter at Coors Field, ranked seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting and helped power his team to their first postseason appearance in eight years.

So, how does the Colorado Rockies sophomore pitcher get better?

This is the time of year when everyone, including the players themselves, can get a bit carried away in analyzing a few innings or pitches that may ultimately mean nothing.

But still, despite giving up a few runs on some fastballs left high in the zone, there were two positives Freeland highlighted from his first start of the spring.

“Positive for me, even with the sample size, was no walks,” he said. “That’s something I really want to minimize this year, the amount of walks I give up. I want to fill up the zone with strikes.”

It’s the right focus and something worth keeping an eye on as we get deeper into spring and closer to the regular season.

Overall, he said, “I felt good. First outing of spring training, so naturally a little excited and a little jumpy and chomping at the bit to get going but I was able to settle down after that first inning, get my refocus, and talk to Iannetta and see what he was seeing and get back to it.”

After a promising rookie season, the trick is to not fall victim to the dreaded sophomore slump. Kyle Freeland has remained proactive in trying to stay ahead of that curve.

More telling and more exciting than how he is feeling or the solid command was the increase in velocity for where the southpaw usually sits at this point of the schedule.

Hitting 93 mph with his fastball might not seem like eye-popping news, but in February for Freeland, this is the result of some specific work that has been put in this offseason.

“We changed some things on our mechanics,” said Freeland, doing that thing pitchers do where they talk about themselves as inseparable from their team of coaches and catchers. “That might have attributed to that. Not sure, we’ll see how things go this year if I’ve been able to add a couple of ticks.”

Freeland has always been a pitcher who succeeds more on feel, movement, location, and pitch selection more than overpowering stuff. But there’s nothing wrong with adding a bit of power to that profile. As long as it doesn’t set him back in any other area, a few more MPH for Freeland could be a game-changer. It’s absolutely worth keeping a close eye on this as it develops.