Emerging Rockies star Freeman getting 'back to who I am' with contact, speed

DENVER -- Tyler Freeman has figured out that just being Tyler Freeman is good enough.

In the first inning of the Rockies’ 7-6 win over the Astros at Coors Field, Freeman chopped a single over pitcher Brandon Walter to extend his on-base streak to 18 games -- longest on the team this season.

Freeman then stole second base to mark his career-high 12th steal before scoring on Thairo Estrada’s two-run homer.

Freeman singled to left with the score tied in the seventh. He came inches from scoring on Mickey Moniak’s double, but a relay throw to the plate from Astros shortstop Mauricio Dubón was just in time. RBI singles from Jordan Beck and Estrada grabbed the lead for the Rockies.

The performance was a snapshot of why Freeman is batting .328 and has grabbed a regular lineup spot. With the bat, the strategy is to use the entire field, every blade of grass. And if his hustle has him covered in a healthy share of the dirt on the field, that’s fine, too.

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For the previous three seasons with the Guardians, Freeman bounced around various positions, which was a good use of his athletic ability. But he also tried different hitting approaches, to his detriment.

“Early on, I wasn’t playing a lot, maybe starting once a week, and I would keep trying to push myself,” Freeman said. “Like, ‘What can I do to get into that lineup?’ My best thought was to try to expand the power game and drive the ball a little bit. Maybe that would get me into the lineup a little more.

“That’s definitely the wrong thought.”

Last season, Freeman moved to center field and batted .209 in 118 games in a season shortened by a left oblique injury. This spring, Freeman told Cleveland’s hitting coaches, “I want to get back to who I am,” and he was in line for the starting second base job before the Rockies acquired him for outfielder Nolan Jones late in camp.

Freeman’s first Rockies conversation reassured him.

“When I was traded over, [general manager] Bill Schmidt was one of the first guys to talk to me,” Freeman said. “He told me right away, ‘We heard about some things in Cleveland, trying to expand the power game, but we just want you to get on base, hit line drives.’ Right away, I felt at home, and I’ve seen the results of being who I used to be.

“It’s in my hands. I controlled the idea of trying to expand my game power-wise. If I would have looked and said, ‘I’ve got to be who I am,’ things might have been different in Cleveland. But everything happens for a reason, and it’s showing right now.”

Since sitting out from April 11 to May 16 with a left oblique strain, Freeman has forged himself a place in the daily lineup, either in right field or as designated hitter. He began the day on May 30 batting .189. But manager Warren Schaeffer was seeing Freeman’s controlled at-bats and his speed. Freeman also learned on the move in right field – a position (like center field in Cleveland) he had never played.

In the ninth inning Thursday, Freeman struggled with a ball against the side wall in right that caromed past him for a Jake Meyers triple. But Freeman ranged to the line to snare Cooper Hummel’s two-out, two-on fly to wrap Seth Halvorsen’s seventh save.

“It’s still new to me,” Freeman said. “The way I’m going to learn, in my opinion, is from stuff that happens in the game. If it doesn’t happen in a game, I won’t ever learn.”

At first Freeman was batting ninth with Beck being tried as a power-hitting leadoff man. But Schaeffer is moving the Rockies away from strictly long swingers and toward a more versatile lineup, one through nine, that eventually will work better at home and on the road. It’s what he is seeing from contending clubs. Freeman’s skills work better at the top of such a lineup.

Freeman, 26, who will be eligible for arbitration for the first time going into next season, has done well to have a consistent place in an outfield full of younger players.

The Rockies this week promoted their No. 5 prospect, left-handed-hitting Yanquiel Fernández – primarily a right fielder. Schaeffer will ease Fernández in by starting him against right-handers. Even when Colorado faces a righty and Fernández plays, Freeman will be in the lineup, with one as the DH.

Moniak, who had been sharing right field with Freeman, will play some center to spell Brenton Doyle against difficult righties.

“I love the way Tyler Freeman plays baseball,” Schaeffer said. “I love the way he puts the ball in play and battles, and uses the big part of Coors. There’s a lot of space out there for balls to drop in and go first to third. He plays that game well. He runs well.”