Despite the Mets having ace, Matt Harvey coming back and throwing lights out in spring training and 2014 Rookie of the Year, Jacob deGrom, the Mets will send 41 year Bartolo Colon to the mound on Opening Day in D.C.
“I feel really proud and really thankful to the Mets and the staff to put the honor on me to start,” Colon said through an interpreter. “At my age, I’m really looking forward to doing it.”
A matter of circumstances brought Colon to this point. The Mets first considered Zack Wheeler to start Opening Day but Wheeler tore the ulnar collateral ligament on his right elbow and he is done for the season with Tommy John.
Despite pitching like an ace again in spring training, the Mets never considered Matt Harvey for the Opening Day nod, not wanting too much on him after not pitching for more than a year. Jacob deGrom was a candidate too with his strong rookie showing, but the Mets valued experience above all in Game 1.
That’s where Colon comes in. At age 41, he will be the oldest Opening Day starter since Randy Johnson and Jamie Moyer. And he will officially be the Mets oldest Opening Day starter passing Tom Glavine who did it in 2007.
He may be the butt of a few jokes especially when he bats and his helmet falls off sometimes and his weight. But the Mets view him as one of the best athletes with his work in the weight room. And last season at ages 40 and 41, Colon was above average in some defensive metrics and had a pretty solid year pitching wise.
It doesn’t seem like in many cases that a player with his weight and appearance can stay fit and remain a good athlete. Yet Colon is the exception and that is what allowed him to still pitch and still pitch effectively at times when most of his peers would hang up their cleats by now. Last season only six pitchers at 40 or above threw a major league pitch and only 3 of them threw 200 innings. Colon accomplished both and he was the only one at age 40 or above to win 15 games and that is despite the Mets having another losing record last year.
“When you have a guy like that with so many years in the Major Leagues, you have to have something,” Mets reliever Jeurys Familia said. ” He’s got everything. He’s got experience. It doesn’t matter if you’re 43, 44. You can pitch.”
Colon actually mentioned that he feels it’s easier to prepare for games now than when he was younger cause he now knows exactly what he needs to do and what he doesn’t need. He also spends his free time helping others around the clubhouse, taking his fellow Dominican hurlers, Familia and Jenrry Mejia under his wings.
“He works extremely hard.” Mejia said. “He’s the guy who comes here early, goes to the weight room, does some bicycle work, does some stuff to be ready. I think this guy works harder than people half his age. Players who are 42, 41 years old like Bartolo, I don’t see many of them. I think the reason that he’s still here is because he’s working hard.”
So the experience factor and the respect he gets especially from his teammates earned Colon the Opening day nod.
