Kyle Freeland — in case you have heard — will make his MLB debut just a few minutes away from the publishing of this article. And with that comes a whole lot of intrigue. There is the debut aspect, of course, the hometown kid part, and there his is left-handedness which has been sited by manager Bud Black as a reason to start him against the scary Los Angeles Dodgers.

But no Colorado Rockies pitcher, even one who grew up in the altitude, can escape questions about pitching in the thin air of Coors Field. In a phone press conference a few days ago, Freeland responded to the questions about his strategy at his new home ballpark, questions he has likely been pondering long before anyone was paying him a dime to throw a baseball

“I’ve actually had the same thought with it growing up in Colorado,” Freeland said. “You still have to execute pitches. You still have to get the ball on the ground and get outs. I think if you have that mentality [while] pitching at Coors Field, you’re going to have success, but I think people get away from it where sometimes they get a little scared or timid in the fact that the ball flies a little bit there. You still have to go out there every day and execute pitches down in the zone.”

Clearly, not the first time he has thought about it. One of the reasons the Rockies are comfortable giving Freeland the start today is surely his comfortability with the environment, but also his cool, calm demeanor a mature attitude play a huge role.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Double-A, Rookie Ball, Single-A, or your debut,” Freeland said. “You got to go out there and think it’s just another game and execute your pitches.”