The Mets weren’t expecting their most reliable and consistent pitcher of the season to be 43-year-old Bartolo Colon. But he is. And he has been.
“Big Sexy” leads the team in innings pitched, starts and wins. He is having one of the better seasons in Mets history, and without question the best season of any Mets starter older than 40. While this is a very small sample– just six Mets have started a game for the team over 40– Colon’s season stands out as the best of the bunch.
The only three starting pitchers to complete full seasons for the Mets who were older than 40 are Colon over the last three years, Tom Glavine in 2006 and 2007 and Orel Hershiser in 1999. All three of them had some success, but none have been as dominant as Colon has been this year.
The previous top season for an age-40 or older Mets starter was Tom Glavine in 2006. He went 15-7 with a 3.82 ERA and 114 ERA+ that season, and even made the All-Star team as the ace of that rotation. The following year, he went 13-8 with a 4.45 ERA (Inflated of course by that last game) and a 97 ERA+. Hershiser (You forgot he was a Met, didn’t you?) went 13-12 with a 4.58 ERA and 97 ERA+ in his lone year with the team in 1999.
Colon’s 2016 looks far better than any of those seasons, as he has an ERA of 3.44 and ERA+ of 117. This is far better than even his last two seasons, where he went 15-13 with a 4.09 ERA and an 84 ERA+ in 2014 and a 14-13 with a 4.16 ERA and 90 ERA+ in 2015. Bart has outdone himself, and making some history in the process.
In terms of cumulative totals for Mets pitchers over 40, Colon has the most innings, starts, wins, losses, strikeouts and lowest ERA. On their overall leader board, Colon is 22nd in Mets history with 41 wins.
