LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – He’s been behind the plate for 17 of Bartolo Colon’s 500 career starts, so catcher Anthony Recker is more familiar with the iconic pitcher than are most Braves.
After signing a one-year, $12.5 million contract in November, the stocky 43-year-old pitcher known as “Big Sexy” will make his first start for the Braves in a Saturday Grapefruit League opener against the Blue Jays at ESPN Wide World of Sports.
“He’s the best,” Recker said, when asked if Colon was easy to deal with. “You just fall in love with him. He just loves to be out there, having fun, goofing around.”
Braves fans are in for a treat this summer, provided Colon continues a remarkable run of durability in his 20th major league season.
And Braves catchers? Let’s just say Tyler Flowers, Kurt Suzuki and possibly Recker at some point will enjoy catching him as much as fans will love watching the playful, resourceful right-hander perform — all 5-foot-11 and 280 pounds of him.
Recker and Colon were teammates with New York Mets in 2014-15 and the Oakland Athletics in 2012.
“Fun, easy. …” Recker said of catching Colon. “I don’t know what word to use. It’s almost, like, relaxing. He takes care of so much, there’s not much else to do.”
Colon, who’ll turn 44 in May, needs 13 wins to pass Dennis Martinez’s 245, the major league record for Latin American pitcher. He is just 10 wins from matching Juan Marichal’s major league record for Dominican pitchers.
Both marks could be reachable in 2017 for Colon, who averaged just over 15 wins in the past four seasons, including at least 14 every year. He was 15-8 with a 3.43 ERA in 191 2/3 innings for the Mets in 2016, the fourth consecutive season that he pitched at least 190 innings.
Before totaling 44 wins and 415 strikeouts in 588 2/3 innings for the Mets over the past three seasons, he was 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA in 190 1/3 innings for Oakland in 2013 in his age-40 season.
Colon has continued to excel despite losing 8-10 mph on his fastball from his early years in Cleveland, when he topped out at 98 on the radar gun. He gets outs now using pinpoint location and by keeping hitters off balance with change of speed. He also fields his position almost shockingly well, especially for someone his size who’s at least 10 to 15 years older than almost everyone he faces.
“I’d like to think every pitcher would watch him, no matter what you throw like, no matter what your role is,” Recker said. “I think there’s something to be learned from him for everybody. Whether he’s going out there and talking to guys or guys are watching him, one way or another guys should be learning from him, for sure. Because, like I say, he plays the game the right way and does the right things. And he does a really good job keeping himself ready to pitch, too.
“I mean, people give him a lot of crap — whether it’s some members of the media, or opposing fans, for sure — they like to give him crap about his weight and all that. I’m not going to say he’s physically fit, but he moves really well, he doesn’t have many arm problems at all, the guy keeps himself ready to go every fifth day. That’s impressive.”
