Colon turning back the clock in Texas
When Bartolo Colon took the mound for the Texas Rangers in his last start, the big right-hander had pitched against Boston coaches more than twice as much as the current Red Sox players.
No player in the majors is older than Colon, who turns 45 on May 24. And no active pitcher has as many as his 241 career wins or 533 starts, the firsts of both which came for Cleveland in 1997.
Still, the portly pitcher with the nickname of “Big Sexy” is having a blast — and still success — in his mid-40s and with his 11th different major league team.
“I feel great. I feel proud,” Colon said through a translator.
“He should,” said Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire, whose Tigers are in town for Colon’s next scheduled start Wednesday. “Pitching this late in your life, it’s not easy to do on this level. It takes a special person to even want to put in the work. He’s a pretty special baseball player.”
While Colon (1-1, 3.29 earnedrun average) is pleasant yet some- what oblivious to reporters, he loves being around the game. He is constantly chatting with teammates in the clubhouse, in the dugout and on the field. And he often interacts with opponents, and even umpires.
Red Sox first base coach Tom Goodwin was heading back to the Boston dugout in the middle of the sixth inning last Friday night when he noticed Colon coming directly toward him.
“I was just walking and Bart comes up to me and just says ‘Hey, my neck hurts.’ That, and then he slapped me on the back and he kept going,” Goodwin said with a chuckle recalling the encounter soon after Colon had given up his third leadoff homer in the game.
When Colon was pitching for the New York Mets from 2014-16, Goodwin was coaching there.
“He was a joy. I wish I would have played with him,” Goodwin said. “But to have him on the Mets team, I know he helped our young guys out, just kind of relax, and ”Hey, it’s not the end of the world.’ Have fun, enjoy what you’re doing. Nobody does it more than he does.“
No longer the hard-throwing pitcher he was a decade ago, Colon has adapted and is still getting hitters out.
“He’s made some incredible adjustments over the years, from being a really hard thrower now to manipulating the baseball,” Texas pitcher Doug Fister said.