The Rockies are planning to select the contracts of right-handers Mason Adams and Blake Adams from Triple-A Albuquerque, as first reported by Thomas Harding of MLB.com. There’s no relation between the two. Colorado has multiple vacancies on the 40-man roster.
Blake Adams will be added ahead of tonight’s game against the Nats, filling the roster spot of veteran lefty Kyle Freeland, who’s headed to the 15-day IL due to a pinched nerve in his neck. The Rockies announced that move shortly after Harding’s original report. Mason Adams will start tomorrow’s game in what would have been Freeland’s spot in the rotation. The move to bring him to the majors probably won’t be officially announced until tomorrow. It’s possible that Blake will even be optioned back down to make room for Mason, though that probably depends on which arms are needed in tonight’s game.
Mason Adams, 26, came to the Rox earlier this month in the deadline trade that sent center fielder Brenton Doyle to the White Sox. Baseball America lists him 15th among Colorado farmhands. The 2022 13th-rounder has posted a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings since being traded to the Rockies organization and now has an overall 3.48 mark on the season between the Triple-A affiliate for the ChiSox and the Rox. He’s set down 24.3% of his opponents on strikes, walked 8.8% of the batters he’s faced and induced grounders at a hearty 52.5% clip in 62 innings this season.
Mason Adams sits 93.5 mph on his four-seamer — his most frequently used offering in a six-pitch arsenal. He also has a sinker that has sat 91.9 mph, a slider that sits 85.9 mph and a curveball that’s averaging 83 mph. He rarely uses either his cutter or changeup, throwing the former at a 5.9% clip and the latter at an even smaller 4.1% rate. With the White Sox organization, he worked more off his sinker, but the Rockies have him using his four-seamer about four times as often as the sinker in his three post-trade appearances. It’ll be interesting to see whether they continue to do so.
Baseball America’s scouting report on Mason Adams labels him as a strike-throwing, back-of-the-rotation starter who’s no stranger to pitching in hitter-friendly venues (thanks to his time with the White Sox’ Charlotte affiliate). MLB.com ranked him 20th in the Rockies’ system, noting that he’s adept at sequencing pitches and working all areas of the strike zone with plus command.
As for Blake Adams, he’s not ranked among Colorado’s top prospects. The 6’2″, 215-pound righty got out to a decent start this season but has been hit hard lately. He’s sitting on a 6.52 ERA in 77 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, though his ERA between the two levels (3.68 and 8.10, respectively) carries quite the contrast. It’s notable, of course, that Colorado’s affiliate in Albuquerque plays in an extreme hitter-friendly setting.
Blake Adams sits 91.7 mph on his four-seamer and primarily complements the pitch with a mid-80s cutter. He mixes in a smattering of seldom-used offerings (sinker, changeup, curveball, slider) — all of which have a usage rate under 10% this season. He lacks velocity but has had good command throughout his minor league tenure.
The odd connection between the two unrelated Adams hurlers extends beyond their surnames and handedness. Remarkably, the two pitchers were not only both 2022 draftees — they were both selected in the 13th round that summer, just 15 picks apart. (Blake first at No. 386 overall, Mason next at No. 401 overall.) They grew up 600 miles apart — Iowa for Mason, northern Arkansas for Blake — but were born all of 200 days apart in the year 2000. They’ll now receive their first call to the majors just 24 hours apart and could even call themselves teammates at the major league level.
As for Freeland, the injury formally closes down any slim hopes he might’ve had of reaching his vesting option threshold. The five-year, $64.5MM extension he signed back in 2022 stipulates that with 170 innings pitched this year, he’d pick up a $17MM player option for the 2027 season. Had he been healthy and started every fifth day beginning tomorrow, through season’s end, Freeland would’ve needed to average nearly 6 2/3 innings per start to reach that threshold. It was technically possible but only in the most extreme of longshot fashion; Freeland has averaged a hair north of 5 1/3 innings per start so far in 2026.
Through 124 1/3 frames this year (23 starts), Freeland sports an ugly 6.37 earned run average. His 18.6% strikeout rate is more than three percentage points shy of average but is the second-best mark of his career. His excellent 5.1% walk rate is a career-low mark. However, this has also been Freeland’s most homer-prone season outside 2019’s juiced-ball campaign. He’s allowed an average of 1.74 long balls per nine frames this year, and the 10.6% barrel rate he’s yielded to opponents is tied for the highest mark of his career. He’ll be limited to one-year offers — perhaps a minor league deal — in free agency this winter whether he returns or sits out the rest of the season. The Rockies have not yet indicated a timetable for his return.
