How will Bartolo Colon do in 2017?

Projecting a 43 year old may be tough, but for Colon, it’s all a bit of the same

Sporting News

This offseason, the Atlanta Braves acquired 43-year-old veteran Bartolo Colon from the New York Mets. Although he’s definitely on his last legs in the big leagues, Colon still has a innate ability to get outs and give his team a chance to win. Let’s take a look at what he could bring to the table on the mound for the Braves.

Command

Bartolo Colon broke into the big leagues 20 years ago. Yes, 20. In 1997. This will be his 20th season in the majors. In fact, he is the only active player left that played for the Montreal Expos.

The 43 year old doesn’t have the mid to high 90’s fastball that he once had, but he still manages to succeed thanks to a great sense for pitching. Command is the key for Bartolo. His fastball typically sits in the high 80’s now, but he gets a lot of movement on both his four seamer, and two seamer. The heater is the main pitch that he tends to rely on, with the occasional slider and change up. You would think when you throw a fastball in the high 80’s in the bigs, you’re going to get hit around. It does happen at times, but since Colon has such great command, he’s able to spot up and stay away from the barrel of opposing hitters. The one thing Braves fans and players who play behind him can rely on is the fact that he doesn’t give up too many free passes. Colon is a contact pitcher, and that is definitely something any infielder/outfielder would like because there is nothing worse than that guy on the mound who is constantly walking hitters.

Projection for 2017

Steamer projects Colon to pitch a line of: 9–11 / 4.20 ERA / 162 IP / 114 SO

My prediction is Colon will win 11 games this season. He was 15 and 8 last season with a Mets squad who lost in the NL wild card game to the Giants. But with an Atlanta Braves squad who is slowly on the rise up, there’s definitely no guarantee they will make the playoffs this season. It’s definitely a possibility considering the way they are building their team, though. But Colon will give up some runs since he throws so many strikes, resulting in a sub 4 ERA.

He made 34 starts last season, and there is no reason he’ll make any less than 30 this year if he stays healthy. The Braves staff has some great young arms, but without a doubt Colon brings experience and a great sense of pitching to a talented staff. He will be a great role model to the younger arms like Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz.

Colon tossed 191.2 innings last year for the Mets but with the Braves likely playing unimportant games after the All-Star break, the coaches may want to call up and let their younger games pitch a few games. He will give his team a chance to win every time he steps out on the mound.

He is not a strikeout pitcher like he used to be in his 20’s. He will pitch mostly to contact, but Colon will still rack up some Ks. Colon still harnesses one of the better fastballs in the game, and in a weak NL East, there’s no reason he could not get his fair share of strikeouts.

Last season in the Bigs?

There’s a good chance this could be Colon’s last season in the majors. He only needs 11 more wins to pass Juan Marichal as the most winning-est pitcher born in the Dominican Republic who has ever played in the MLB. Based on my projections, it looks like “Big Sexy” will hold the most wins of any DR born pitcher by the end of the 2017 season, and hopefully, the Braves could squeak into a NL wild card spot if they perform on all cylinders.