Veteran Starter Kyle Freeland Joins Elite Group of Rockies' Pitchers

The longtime Colorado Rockies' pitcher joined a rare club on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Jul 25, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland (21) delivers a pitch during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. / James A. Pittman-Imagn Images

It's no secret that the Colorado Rockies have been performing like one of the worst teams in MLB history in 2025, and that has held true for the team's pitching staff in particular, as the group ranks at or near the bottom in every single statistical category.

Out of all 30 teams in the game, the Rockies rank dead last in ERA (6.02), WHIP (1.62), opponent batting average (.301), and are tied with the Athletics for the most home runs allowed so far this year with 173.

By just about every single metric available, this Colorado pitching staff has been the worst in all of baseball, and could end up having a real argument as the worst pitching staff of all time by season's end.

Despite how bad things have been going for the Rockies, however, there have still been a few positive moments for Colorado on the bump amidst all the failure, rare as they may be. One of these moments occurred on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals when veteran starter Kyle Freeland became just the third Rockies pitcher in history to record 900 career strikeouts.

The 32-year-old southpaw joined Germán Márquez (1,059), and Jorge De La Rosa (985) as the only Colorado hurlers to reach the milestone.

Congratulations @KFREE_21!

The third Rockies pitcher to record 9⃣0⃣0⃣ strikeouts! pic.twitter.com/RvrIjsFCIo

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 13, 2025

Any time a player joins one of these rare groupings in an organization's history is always a special moment, and Freeland has undoubtedly earned his entry into the 900 K club. The lefty has been a member of the Rockies' clubhouse since he made his big league debut with the team back in 2014.

Since then, he's been a steady hand for Colorado in their rotation, always providing solid production on the mound for a team that has needed it for going on a decade at this point. Freeland has been with the team through all the highs and lows over that timeframe, and that's something he certainly takes pride in.

“Climbing up those rankings of leaderboards within the Rockies organization is really cool,” Freeland said after the game (per MLB.com's Joe Harris). “You know, it shows that we've been here for quite some time and have had success.”

This is also the type of feel-good moment that both Colorado and Freeland have been looking for in recent weeks, as neither has been performing very well. Freeland himself is in the midst of a dreadful campaign, currently holding a 3-18 record and an ERA north of five.

Rocky as things may be going overall, though, nothing is going to take the shine off of Freeland joining this rarified air in Rockies' history, and nothing should.

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