The battle for the bottom two spots in the New York Yankees‘ rotation is coming to a head, and Bartolo Colon might have just clinched a spot for himself with a very strong outing against the Tampa Bay Rays.
While the Yankees eventually lost, 3-1, to Tampa, Colon did everything he could have possibly done to win a job as a starter in the Bronx. Featuring pitches with plenty of “life” on them, the veteran righty pitched six nasty innings, allowing only one run on two hits and no walks while striking out five.
Spring results are rarely important, and this game was no exception. It’s not the results, it’s how Colon got them—specifically how he threw the ball—that matters most.
According to one scout, Colon reached 93 with his fastball on Monday. But there was more than velocity on the four-seam fastball to get excited about, if you’re a fan of the Yanks. He also had wicked movement and location on his two-seam fastball, giving both righties and lefties fits with the offering.
There were also multiple broken bats and some sort of filthy splitter/slurvish sort of offering that dropped straight down off the end of the proverbial table to rack up another strikeout. Overpowering would not be too strong a term for what Colon did to the Tampa lineup on Monday evening.
The Yanks might not be ready to announce any final decisions just yet. But with only a week and a half until opening day, and with Colon pitching this well (his spring ERA dropped to 2.40), and with rag-armed Freddy Gacia having imploded in his most recent start, it’s difficult to imagine Colon NOT having locked up a spot in New York’s starting rotation.
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