Kyle Freeland turns 30 on May 14.

He’s pitched 834 2/3 innings in the majors, faced 3,611 hitters and struck out 642. Last April, he signed a five-year, $64.5 million contract. His offseason home is in balmy Scottsdale, Ariz.

He’s all grown up. But in his heart, “K-Free” will always be The Colorado Kid.

When the lefty takes the mound against the Nationals on Thursday afternoon at Coors Field, the Thomas Jefferson High School graduate will become the first pitcher in Rockies history to start three home openers.

“I take a lot of pride in that,” Freeland said. ” As much of an honor as it is to be the opening-day starter, for me, the home opener is extremely special. Colorado is where I was born and raised. This is where I fell in love with baseball.”

Freeland has a lot of tattoos, many with a Colorado theme, and he continues to add more ink. But the centerpiece of Freeland’s body art is a pocket watch. The hands are set at 8:14.

“That’s pretty important to me,” Freeland said. “That’s when the Rockies drafted me. I was the eighth pick in 2014.”

Freeland made his major-league debut six years ago in the Rockies’ home opener against the Dodgers, pitching six solid innings, allowing four hits and one run with six strikeouts in a 2-1 victory.

“The people of Denver should be very proud of their native son,” manager Bud Black said at the time.

Freeland’s debut was the first of its kind in more than 50 years. Prior to Freeland’s start, the last major league pitcher to make his debut as a starting pitcher in his team’s home opener in the state in which he was born was Chuck Dobson for the Kansas City Athletics on April 19, 1966, vs. Minnesota. Dobson was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

Freeland commemorated his debut with another tattoo. This one features a ticket stub stamped 040717 — April 7, 2017.

It was the first of several memorable games in Freeland’s career, including no-hitting the White Sox for 8 1/3 innings on July 9, 2017, the longest no-hit bid by a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field in franchise history.

Freeland’s parents, Don and Susan, raised their family in a cul-de-sac in the Hampden Heights neighborhood of southeast Denver. Susan is still a secretary at Holm Elementary School where her son attended school.

“I’m thrilled for Kyle and I’m thrilled for the man he’s become,” Don said Wednesday. “Growing up, Kyle’s whole dream was to play for the Rockies and now he has a contract that will essentially make Colorado his team for his whole career.

“What I’m very, very proud of is how Kyle continues to embrace the city and the state, and he wants to do as much as he can for the community.”

Freeland, and his wife, Ashley, have become ardent supporters and fundraisers for Special Olympics Colorado. Last year, Freeland was the Rockies’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, Major League Baseball’s distinguished humanitarian award.

As a competitor, Freeland is incredibly intense. In the visitor’s clubhouse at San Diego’s Petco Park last week, Freeland, a scratch golfer, was focused on the arcade game, Golden Tee Golf. Considering how intense Freeland was that morning, one might have thought it was the Masters at Augusta National.

Shouts of “Yes!” reverberated through the clubhouse as he tallied birdies and eagles. He even let a couple of four-letter words fly. By the time Freeland was done, he’d recorded the lowest score on the machine.

“He’s been (intense) ever since he was old enough to walk and compete with his older brother,” Don said. “His brother (Colin) is three years older, but Kyle always wanted to keep up with his brother and his brother’s teammates. When he was 6 or 7, Kyle would practice with his older brother’s team.”

Freeland relishes the big stage.

“I feed off it, absolutely, whether it’s at home or on the road,” he said.

In 2018, the season he went 17-7, posted a 2.85 ERA, finished fourth for the National League Cy Young Award, and started for Colorado in the NL wild-card game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The fans were howling that night but Freeland shut them up with the best postseason pitching performance in Rockies history. Pitching on three days rest, he blanked the Cubs for 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits with one walk and six strikeouts. The Rockies eventually won the game, 2-1, in 13 innings.

Last Friday, in the Rockies’ 4-1 win at San Diego, Freeland held the Padres’ powerful lineup to three hits over six scoreless innings.

“When you smell blood in the water you have to keep attacking,” Freeland said. “When you sense frustration from the other guys, you have to stick with your game plan and make sure you are putting your foot down; make sure you are not letting them get any momentum.”

As a pitcher, Freeland is a technician with a less-than-average 90 mph fastball and a five-pitch mix. He knows he has to study, learn and adjust in order to succeed. He learned that hard lesson in 2019 when he went 3-11 with a 6.73 ERA and was demoted to Triple-A for six starts.

“You can never get complacent with your stuff and how you’re pitching,” he said. “If you are complacent, then the game will humble you really quickly. I believe that’s one of the things that happened to me in 2019.

“I kind of thought that I had it figured out, which clearly I didn’t. Now I know that even the best in the game are going to have struggles, they are going to have ruts.”

Freeland has yet to match the magic of 2018, but over the last three seasons, he’s posted a 4.36 ERA — not bad for a pitcher who calls Coors Field home.

When Freeland pitched for Team USA in last month’s World Baseball Classic, he was befriended by Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals’ veteran right-hander. Freeland extracted all of the knowledge he could from Wainwright, who’s been impressed with how Freeland has handled pitching at Coors Field.

“Kyle is an absolute pitch-maker,” Wainwright told MLB.com. “He’s made a pretty good living pitching in a tough place. He works both sides of the plate and he plays the X-game on both sides, using the cut and sinker on both sides of the plate.”

When Freeland faces the Nationals on Thursday, he’ll be looking to erase his poor performance in last year’s opener at Coors when he gave up five runs in just 3 2/3 innings in Colorado’s 5-3 loss to the Dodgers.

He doesn’t plan on failing again in front of his hometown crowd on one of the biggest party days of the year in LoDo. He knows he’ll be pumped up and he plans to channel that energy.

“Adrenaline is a hell of a thing,” he said.

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