Jon Gray's words of advice to Kyle Freeland before his MLB debut

Jon Gray was never quite the loca kid making his MLB debut in the home opener. Oklahoma doesn’t have an MLB team, after all.

When BSN Denver asked if he could put himself in the shoes of Kyle Freeland — the Colorado Rockies starter today who will make history by opening the season 10 blocks from where he pitches in high school — Gray says he has a hard time doing so.

“No, I couldn’t imagine it,” he says. “I don’t know what that would be like. He seems pretty pumped up about it. I think it’s a really big day for him.”

There is a palpable nervous energy both in the ballpark and in the clubhouse today. It seems everyone is a bit jittery rooting for the hometown kid, hoping that he shows well in front of 40,000 of his closest friends and family.

But where most cannot sympathize in the slightest, and Gray admits that the enormity of today is rare and tough to predict, the Rockies breakout performer from a year ago has plenty of recent experience that could benefit Freeland.

“We just talked about hitters and what you need to do to be careful with some guys in this [Dodgers] lineup,” Gray says of the conversations between the two leading into today. “He’s all in. You don’t see any doubt in him, he’s all confidence. It’s good to see that, especially with him taking the ball out there against the Dodgers today.”

And while the butterflies may not have quite the same wingspan, Gray can relate there.

“It does,” Gray says about the energy of the moment affecting pitchers on the mound. “You just gotta realize that you’re the quarterback of the team. You step off when you need to step off. You slow everything down when you need to. You control the tempo.”

“Is the key, especially here and on a big day, to just keep the heartbeat in check?” I ask.

“I think so, for me it is,” Gray replies. “I need to focus on the next batter. If I think about the past too much, it will just keep snowballing. You gotta have a short memory.”

We will get a look at Freeland, and his mental makeup, starting in one hour. Get ready.