Monday’s Dominican League Finals game featured Bartolo Colon pitching for the Cibao Eagles against his Angels teammate, Ervin Santana. Since Colon’s probably the most prominent unsigned free agent remaining on the market (non-Barry Bonds division), there were likely a number of teams watching when he took the mound at Estadio Quisqueya.
So, how did big Bartolo do?
This wasn’t the power pitcher we’re used to seeing. Colon mainly threw two-seam fastballs in the 88-91 MPH range on the ESPN Deportes gun, touching 94 once in the fourth inning. Colon held Licey scoreless through four innings, retiring 11 in a row and 12 of his first 13 batters faced. The only hit he allowed to that point was a flare single. Despite the results, he hardly looked dominating. Both his strikeouts were called, and he wasn’t missing bats much. And in the fifth inning, Colon looked gassed–his fastball, after a velocity spike in the fourth, dropped into the mid-80s–and he was pulled after allowing two singles, a walk and a hit by pitch without retiring a batter. All four of those runners came around to score as Colon took the loss in Licey’s 5-1 victory.
The x-factor in any assessment of that performance is Colon’s conditioning. Colon, who’s always been more Chris Farley than Joe Piscopo, didn’t look any leaner than he was at the end of last season. He’s only made five starts in the month that he’s been with the Cibao team, contributing fewer than 20 total innings. So the question is, is this equivalent to where a pitcher would be a month into Spring Training, when he’s still working himself into big league form? Or is this what a major league team should expect from Colon from here on? It’s a question that could mean millions of dollars to Colon, and good number of wins to whichever team ultimately picks him up.
The Dominican League Finals had a day off Tuesday, with the Eagles still leading Licey 3-2 in the series. While the Dominicans are halfway through their final, Mexico and Venezuela are just starting theirs:
In the Mexican Pacific League, Obregon is taking on Mazatlan in the best-of-seven final. In that matchup, Obregon has the star power advantage, with active major leaguers Alfredo Amezaga and Jason Botts in their lineup, and a 1-0 lead in the series.
In Venezuela, it’ll be the Lara Cardinals against the Aragua Tigers when the series gets underway on Wednesday. The Tigers are headlined by Detroit thirdbaseman Miguel Cabrera–possibly Venezuela’s biggest star–and the Royals‘ Alberto Callaspo; while the Cardinals feature a deeper pool of major league talent, including Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, Marco Scutaro, Cesar Izturis, and Mariners Jose Lopez and Adam Jones.
0 comments have been left for this post.
