New York Mets: Where Does Bartolo Colon Rank Among Starting Pitchers?
Bleacher Report has recently ranked the top 80 starting pitchers in baseball this season. Where does Bartolo Colon of the New York Mets rank?
It has been a great season for New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon. Also known as “Big Sexy”, Colon has been consistently good for the Mets this season.
After a trip to the World Series last year, most of the young arms on the Mets were unable to make it through the season due to injuries. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Steven Matz were all shut down this season due to injuries.
Zack Wheeler was also supposed to come back for the Mets’ rotation in the summer, but multiple setbacks resulted in him missing the entire season. Due to all of the injuries, it has been Colon and Noah Syndergaard holding down the fort for the Mets.
This season, Colon has totaled 14-8 record and 3.42 ERA. At 43-years-old, Colon was able to make the All-Star team for the National League. In the Bleacher Report ranking, Colon comes in at 45th. Here is their reasoning behind it.
Bartolo Colon is still around and still doing his thing: throwing 90 percent fastballs and assaulting the strike zone with them. The idea is to limit walks and use different movements to avoid barrels. He’s not great at the latter, but his 1.5 BB/9 is proof of how good he is at the former. His big weakness is what’s inevitable when a pitcher pumps 80-something heaters into the zone over and over: no whiffs.
The 45th place ranking is a bit low for Colon. The ranking system is based a lot on the ability to strikeout batters, and that is something that Colon doesn’t do frequently. Despite not have a high strikeout percentage, Colon has gotten the job done for the Mets this season.
Furthermore, if not for Colon, the Mets wouldn’t find themselves on the doorsteps of the playoffs.
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