That's right folks, it's Bartolo Time!
It was reported that former All-Star pitcher and renowned author Bartolo Colon is looking to make a comeback in baseball and pitch for one more season. We last saw the soon to be 47-year old with the Rangers organization in 2018. He made 24 starts and posted an ERA of 5.78, a FIP of 5.47, and a RA/9 of 5.97. In other words, he wasn't great. It was also noted that he prefers to play with the Mets, where he was selected to his fourth All-Star appearance in 2016 and a member of a rotation that helped the franchise get to the World Series in 2015.
Working under the assumption that he will return to the Mets (or the big leagues in general), let's explore how Colon can still contribute to a Major League roster and what his best role could be.
With Noah Syndergaard's Tommy John surgery ending his season, there could be some potential for Colon to take an end-of-the-rotation role. The only problem with this thought is he wasn't an effective starter in the final two years of his career, particularly in 2018, as he finished in the bottom 1% of the league in xBA (0.304) and xSLG (0.530) allowed. It would be somewhat of a longshot for Colon to be effective for 24 to 28 starts. But what if Colon converted into a reliever and added some veteran depth to an incredibly talented group?
There may be some clout to that.
Since 2015, Colon has pitched 10.1 innings in relief and he posted some productive numbers, with a SO% of 24.4%, a BB% 0f 0.0%, and a FIP of 3.73. While this is a small sample size, and we acknowledge that some of Colon's statistics are unfavorable in certain areas, his numbers as a reliever over the last four seasons are marginally better than those as a starter.
Furthermore, Colon could serve as a specialist against left-handed hitters coming out of the bullpen. Over the last four seasons of his career (2015 to 2018), he was relatively effective in managing lefties, as shown below:
One could argue that aside from his 2017 campaign, Colon's strength as a pitcher was preventing batters to reach base in different ways against him, as shown in his wOBA and xwOBA against.
For his pitch selection, I recommend that he rely heavily on his offspeed stuff and avoid throwing fastballs entirely. As shown in the graphic below, Colon's changeup has been an issue for lefty batters from 2015 to 2018:
Am I saying that Bartolo Colon should be a full-time starter if he were to be signed by a Major League franchise? No, based on the data, Colon's starting days are behind him. With that said, do I think that he could be a viable right-handed, offspeed specialist to dispatch left-handed hitters and maybe pitch 30 to 40 innings coming out of the bullpen in relief? Yes I do, and given the current uncertainty of when the season will start, Bartolo Colon is a viable pickup for any roster.
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