The Mets’ pitcher set out to improve his hitting, and has exceeded his own expectations
SAN DIEGO—Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon hears you laughing at him, and he doesn’t appreciate it.
Don’t bother trying to deny it. He knows you chuckle every time he steps up to the plate. He knows the crowd roars whenever he makes contact with the ball and hauls his 285-pound frame to first base, as if his at-bats were a perverse form of absurdist performance art.
Even Major League Baseball’s official website has joined in on the fun, running a feature this season tracking and grading each of Colon’s plate appearances, accompanied by a picture of him mid-swing, looking ridiculous. This week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters in Detroit that Colon was reason enough to deprive the National League of the designated hitter, saying, “It’s been a great source of entertainment for me.”
He didn’t mean it as a compliment.
“Nobody likes to be embarrassed at any level, and he knows people are laughing at him when he hits,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “I think he took it a little personally.”
Colon doesn’t see his hitting as a source of humor. Perhaps he did once, but not anymore. He realizes that he made a fool of himself last season, his first year playing in the National League since 2002. He went 2-for-62 (.032) with 33 strikeouts and emerged as a comic folk hero among baseball fans for his wild, body-contorting hacks. Entering 2015, Colon was 12-for-158 (.076) at the plate in 17 big-league seasons.
The reaction to his failures left him feeling ridiculed and ashamed. So Colon vowed to himself that he would silence the laughter in 2015—that he would compete every time he appeared at the plate. Now Colon already has three hits in 21 at-bats this year, and the Mets insist that no pitcher on the team works harder in the cage.
“He says he doesn’t have to embarrass himself and doesn’t have to hear people talking about his hitting approach, bad approach,” said bullpen coach Ricky Bones, Colon’s interpreter and confidant. “Now he can actually go in there and do something.”
In fairness, Colon deserved much of the mocking he received in 2014 for his offensive high jinks. With a bat in his hands, he looks about as intimidating as a poodle in a tutu and as comfortable as a goldfish in a plastic bag.
New York Mets Bartolo Colon loses his helmet as he bats against Orioles. Photo: Associated Press
At 42 years old, Colon sports the physique of the average beer-league softball player. His helmet often falls clear off his head when he swings, and he frequently carries the bat down the first-base line for no discernible reason. He might run slower than any professional athlete on the planet. At this point in his career, Colon didn’t need to commit himself to improving at the plate. Nobody expects anything from his bat, anyway.
Until spring training, he didn’t expect much of himself, either. In February, new hitting coach Kevin Long said that Colon didn’t appear “too vested in putting that much time into getting his swing where it needs to be.” That criticism came with a target: three hits by the end of the season.
The challenge inspired him.
“He says, ‘If I can pitch and if I can stay in the game, then I can help my team and people will talk about how good I am pitching.’ I want them to say, ‘Hey, he looks decent at the plate,’ ” Bones said.
It took less than two months for Colon to accomplish his goal. In his outing last Sunday against Miami, he smacked a line-drive into center field that rolled all the way to the wall. Afterward, Bones said Colon told him that he wanted to try for third, but decided to play it safe and take the double.
“There’s days where I tell him, ‘Hey, you don’t need to hit today,’ ” said assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, who works with all the Mets’ pitchers on their hitting and bunting. “And he says, ‘No, I want to hit.’ ”
Colon credits Roessler for his newfound hitting prowess, however slim. Roessler treats Colon’s desire to better himself with reverence, and spends the time helping him with his mechanics, especially his timing and discipline in the batter’s box. More important, Colon says, “He’s given me the confidence [to] get it done in the game.”
Ultimately, Colon recognizes that he will never develop into a good hitter. He won’t match the abilities of some his teammates, like Jacob deGrom, a former college shortstop, and Noah Syndergaard, who hit a 430-foot home run last month.
In fact, Colon would rather not hit at all. But since he must, why shouldn’t he figure out a way to hold his own?
“It’s a good accomplishment,” Colon said. “But I’d prefer not to hit, because at my age, I’d rather pitch and not have to concentrate on running or swinging the bat.”
Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/bartolo-colon-takes-offense-at-the-ridicule-of-his-offense-1433376704
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