With Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Steven Matz all needing season ending surgery, Zack Wheeler needing to be shut down after a number of setbacks during his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery, and Noah Syndergaard dealing with bone spurs in his elbow, everyone has joked about how it was the 43 year old Bartolo Colon who has made it through the season healthy. Well, the joke is now on Mets fans.
After Colon’s terrible poor 2.1 inning seven earned outing against the Marlins on Monday, Terry Collins announced that Colon has been dealing with a tendon issue in his right foot, which is the foot he pushes off of when he pitches on the mound. Collins said Colon suffered the injury within the past two weeks while he was running the bases.
Based on Collins’ timeline, the injury most likely occurred during the September 10th game against the Braves. In that game, Colon grounded into two double plays and was lifted after six innings despite only having thrown 87 pitches. The last time Colon was actually a baserunner was in the August 26th game against the Phillies where he was 2-3 at the plate with a double scoring two runs.
Beginning with Colon’s start immediately after the August 26th start until the start prior to the one against the Marlins, Colon was 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and a 0.888 WHIP while averaging over 6.1 innings per start. If the tendon has been affecting him, it seems his last start against the Marlins was the first time it had an impact on his performance.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise the Mets announced Colon will be able to pitch this Saturday against the Phillies.
