Kyle Freeland to the DL, Scott Oberg optioned

DENVER – The Colorado Rockies announced today that they, indeed, have placed Rookie of the Year candidate, left-handed starter Kyle Freeland on the 10-day Disabled List. Freeland was removed from Friday night’s contest against the Philadelphia Phillies after throwing just 11 pitches with a groin injury, described by manager Bud Black after the game as either a “strain” or a “slight pull”.

In addition to that move, the Rockies have surprisingly optioned Scott Oberg down to Triple-A, but that may be a function of how many innings the bullpen has needed to pick up lately.

Carlos Estevez and Shane Carle have been recalled to the MLB roster to give that bullpen a pair of fresh arms, the former with electric stuff that could mirror the production that Oberg brings and the latter with the ability to go multiple innings in order to spell Chris Rusin and Antonio Senzatela, both of whom had to pick up a ton of work on Friday.

Starting pitcher Chad Bettis, Colorado’s wins and innings leader a year ago has also been activated off the DL and optioned to Triple-A to get a bit more work in before he returns to the MLB roster.

Freeland has thrown 121,2 innings for Colorado in his rookie campaign, posting a 3.70 ERA and a 3.6 rWAR.

Oberg has tossed 42.2 innings for the Rockies in 2017 with a 5.91 ERA but a very good 8.4 K/9 ratio.

Estevez has pitched 16.2 innings this season, mostly in the first month and posted an ugly 8.10 ERA but a promising 3.03 FIP and 9.7 K/9 rate.