Rockies banking on Colorado native pitcher Kyle Freeland

The state of Colorado will never be called the place to find elite major-league pitching.

There have been some success stories. The biggest name is, of course, Roy Halladay who had dominant stints with both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The righty from Arvada West High School pitched a perfect game in the regular season and threw a no-hitter in the postseason. He won the Cy Young twice and was selected to the All-Star Game eight times. He is the man when it comes to pitchers from Colorado.

A new crop of hurlers from Colorado is present in the MLB right now. The Orioles’ Kevin Gausman, who attended Grandview High School in Centennial, is a strong young pitcher who has been in and out of the rotation. Gausman has 14-19 record in the big leagues but the Orioles see a bright future for him.

Marco Gonzales is a highly rated pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Gonzales actually made his debut against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in June 2014. The lefty has dealt with shoulder problems but St. Louis still has high hopes. His peripheral numbers suggest an improvement to the record is on the near horizon.

The Rockies have not selected many pitchers from Colorado but hope they have found a gem in lefty Kyle Freeland.

“It definitely crosses my mind frequently — being the hometown kid that grows up and does something great for the Colorado Rockies,” Freeland told ColoradoRockies.com.

Freeland pitched at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver and was actually drafted by the Phillies in the 35^th round of the 2011 draft. Freeland decided not to sign and went on to star at the University of Evansville. His junior season was his strongest; he went 10-2 with a 1.90 earned run average.

The always-pitching-starved Rockies selected Freeland with the eighth pick in the 2014 draft. Experts saw Freeland as someone who could fly through the system and ready to contribute early in his career. Shoulder fatigue derailed that plan but Freeland looks to be back on track.

Once the lefty was cleared to pitch he showed some good signs in the minors. He pitched nine games between Rookie-level Grand Junction and Class-A Modesto in 2015. He compiled a 3-2 record with a 4.24 ERA. Nothing unbelievable but Freeland was back on the mound which was a good thing for Colorado.

The Rockies decided to have Freeland pitch in the Arizona Fall League which is filled with some of baseball’s top prospects. The lefty flourished against some of baseball’s best with a 4-1 and a 2.84 ERA. Freeland struggled in his first start, giving up six runs but only gave up one more in his remaining four starts.

Now Freeland has a chance to shine in his first big-league spring training.

“If I wouldn’t have had that experience facing that level of competition, coming in here would have been a bit more of a challenge,” said Freeland. “Now I’m coming into big league camp having faced the elite.”

It would be a long shot for Freeland to break camp with the Rockies. He has never pitched above Class-A ball and the team’s history with pitchers from Colorado is not stellar or really deep.

John Burke was drafted by the Rockies in 1992 and never panned out in the majors. He appeared in just 28 games in 1996 and 1997. Burke was a standout at Cherry Creek High School and went on be an All-American at the University of Florida. He was the Rockies’ first ever draft pick.

Burke finished his career with a 4-6 record and 6.75 ERA. He never gave the Rockies what they were looking for.

The Rockies have the same high hopes for Freeland. The lefty will not be looked upon as the savior of the Colorado rotation. That honor seems to fall on the right shoulders of Jon Gray and Jeff Hoffman. But the Rockies need multiple pitchers to pan out either way and Freeland seems to be natural fit with his polished stuff and familiarity with pitching at altitude.

Freeland, who is ranked as the team’s ninth best prospect according to MLB.com, will probably start the season at Double-A. If the lefty performs well and shows signs that he is ready, let’s hope the Rockies will pull the trigger and bring him up to pitch at Coors Field in 2016.