Atlanta Braves: Has Bartolo Colon finally run out of steam?
By Brad Faber
The Atlanta Braves’ veteran starter is off to a rough start in his 20th MLB season.
Over the offseason, the Atlanta Braves signed Bartolo Colon to a reported one-year, $12.5 million deal. Despite the fact that he was about to enter his age-44 season, Colon had proven over the past several years that he still had the ability to give a club quality starts.
Prior to joining the Braves, Colon spent the last three years pitching for the division rival New York Mets. During his tenure in the Big Apple, he went 44-34 with a 3.90 ERA (96 ERA+) and a 1.225 WHIP. His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) was even a tad lower than his ERA at 3.79. Colon made at least 31 starts and pitched 190 or more innings in each of those three seasons as well.
For the past several seasons, Colon’s average fastball has registered in only the low 90s, according to Brooks Baseball. He wasn’t exactly blowing hitters away, but he had excellent control, regularly posting a BB/9 of 1.50 or lower.
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At the very least, it appeared that the Braves would likely be getting a durable veteran starter who would eat innings and turn in roughly league-average numbers. So far in 2017, however, Colon has been unable to repeat the success of the past several seasons.
On Thursday, Colon made his 10th start of the season, and the results were not pretty. He ended up going five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing 10 hits, seven runs and three walks while only striking out one.
The end of the road?
On the season, Colon is now 2-5 with a 6.96 ERA (63 ERA+) and a 1.585 WHIP. Naturally, some are beginning to wonder if Father Time may finally be taking its toll on the right-hander. After yet another tough outing, Dayn Perry of CBS Sports opined that Colon’s career may possibly be nearing the end:
"“Vanishingly rare is the player who’s even still on a major-league roster in his 40s, so Colon’s already done something special. At age 44, though, it may be that he’s finally run out of whatever magic it was that allowed him to rescue his career at such an advanced age. It’s been fun, but we may be seeing The Last Days of Bartolo.”"
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Over his 20-year MLB career, in which he has pitched for nine different teams, Colon has racked up 235 wins and posted a 3.98 ERA (109 ERA+). He also won the AL Cy Young award with the Los Angeles Angels back in 2005 and has been named to four different All-Star teams.
It will be very interesting to see if he can bounce back, or if this might really be the final chapter of his pitching days. Either way, Colon has certainly had a very nice run, to say the least.