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DENVER -- The path to playing time isn't always clear for Tyler Freeman, 26, but he has a way of finding it.
Freeman was the Guardians’ primary center fielder for much of last season, but he struggled late and was forced out of the postseason by a left oblique strain. He was putting together a strong bid for Cleveland's starting second base job this spring before being traded to Colorado late in Spring Training.
“Coming to a new team, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Freeman said. “But my high school coach would say, ‘If you hit, you play.’ And that’s what I’m trying to do. Whether it’s designated hitter, right field, whatever, I’m willing to do it. I have open arms.”
Before establishing a role with the Rockies, Freeman sustained another injury to his left oblique in mid April and missed a month.
Freeman, though, has turned hot while playing mostly right field. As was the case last year when he moved to center for the Guardians, Freeman had never played in right. But hitting is giving him a chance to learn the position. Freeman’s current hit streak has reached a career-high eight games, during which he is batting .480 (12-for-25) with a 1.319 OPS.
“Getting the opportunity to play every day definitely helped,” Freeman said. “After coming off the IL, I worked with the hitting coaches and have just been finding a groove.”
Freeman's solid run is a reversal of his 2-for-17 start to the season.
“He's just got really good bat-to-ball skills, and he's making it happen,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He looks hot. You just look at him in the box, and he looks like he feels good.”
Freeman’s identity positionally is just a ballplayer, regardless of where he is on the diamond. Most importantly, Freeman has found his identity as a hitter, and his approach works well low in the lineup. Schaeffer likes him in the No. 9 position to turn over the lineup to leadoff man Jordan Beck.
“The big adjustment is just being who I am,” Freeman said. “In years before, I was trying to do way too much, trying to be the player I wasn’t. I was trying to expand my power and trying to expand hitting the ball in the air.
“That hurt me in the long run. Now I’m being myself again -- line drives, spraying the ball all over the field and running the bases. My game is getting on base and trying to let the guys drive me in.”