Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Bartolo Colon Passes Pedro On The All Time Wins List

It's honestly incredible that Bartolo "Big Sexy" Colon is still pitching in the majors in 2016. It's even more incredible he's pitching effectively. Dude is about to turn 43 and his career was thought to be over several times over the past decade. Yet here he is just casually passing Pedro Martinez on the all time win list.

 Colon's peak came with the Angels in 2005 when he won 21 games en route to winning the AL Cy Young award, beating out Johan Santana in his prime. After making at least 33 starts in eight consecutive years Big Sexy dealt with injuries following his Cy Young award and made just 37 starts over the next three seasons combined (2006-08).

 Bartolo bounced around for a few more years before landing in Oakland, where in 2013 he became an all star for the first time since '05. That year Colon went 18-6, led the league in shutouts, and finished sixth in the Cy Young voting. The performance got him a contract with the Mets where he has taken on a leadership role to all their young phenoms.

This season Colon is off to his best start as a Met. Through six games he is 2-1 with a 2.56 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 31.2 innings pitched. After passing Pedro he is now 23 wins shy of Juan Marichal's record for most by a Dominican born pitcher. 

We know that wins are a flawed stat, especially when discussing career totals. For example, somebody who pitches 20 years is likely to have more wins than one who pitches 15 years. However, it's still mighty impressive he has passed Pedro on the career wins list. About to turn 43 Colon has been around a long time. Hopefully he isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

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