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 From Altamira to All-Star Game Cleveland's Colon has emerged smelling like a rose
Posted: Friday July 03, 1998 11:29 PM
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Bartolo Colon unleashes his 99 mph fastball with such ease that he appears to be playing a simple game of catch. Or perhaps he imagines knocking coconuts out of trees with a rock on a lazy summer day. That's how the Cleveland Indians right-hander learned to throw a baseball as a youngster in his native Dominican Republic. It is a long way from the poor, proud village of Altamira to the All-Star Game in Denver, where Colon is headed at age 23. But it only seems as if Colon has come on as quickly as his fastball rushes toward home plate. "This year, I see a very mature and dominant person," said Indians director of community relations Allen Davis, who has become such a mentor to Colon that the young Dominican calls him "Papa." "He's dominant on the mound," Davis added, "and even off the mound." It hasn't been an easy road for Colon, despite a breezy June in which his 4-1 record and 1.30 ERA earned him American League pitcher of the month honors and clinched his first trip to the All-Star Game. There was his mystifying first snowfall in Newark, New Jersey, and the constant shuttle rides between Cleveland and the minors. He played Nintendo baseball for hours and watched his favorite movie -- "Home Alone" -- an absurd number of times. This was how Colon passed the time while trying to master English and his sometimes-unhittable pitches. "I'm just so thankful that I've been able to pitch well and be able to accept all of this, especially for somebody so young like me," Colon told Davis, one of his interpreters. Colon pitched a masterful four-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in his first start of the year. Though shaky in his fifth straight win Thursday night at Milwaukee, Colon improved to 9-4 with a sparkling 2.46 ERA. He is among the league leaders with two shutouts and five complete games. The suspect right elbow, injured twice in the minors, has held up so far. "I have no problems with my arm," Colon said. "I feel stronger every time I go to the mound." Colon, clearly Cleveland's ace in the first half, is on pace to become the Indians' first 18-game winner since Greg Swindell in 1988. He has an outside chance at becoming Cleveland's first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974. Colon has also managed to overshadow Jaret Wright, the young hero of last year's postseason who has been inconsistent in his second year. So firm is Colon's hold on the spotlight that Wright recently dyed his hair platinum-blond, as if to say, "Hey, remember me?" "Bartolo wasn't really sure he belonged here," Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel said. "But finally they said, 'Here, man. Here's the ball. You pitch every five days.' He got confidence in himself. Now he's blowing people away." Demoted to Class AAA Buffalo five times last year, Colon wondered if he'd ever stay in the majors. All the while, his wife Rosanna was pregnant. The constant shuffling made the couple's already mind-boggling adjustments even more perplexing. "Believe me, it wasn't easy," Davis said. "He got homesick a couple of times. There were many times we had to tell him, 'This is for your own good.'" The Indians started watching Colon in a Dominican youth league when the stout right-hander was only 14. They turned him away from several tryouts, sending Colon home to weep and worry that he was too short to make the majors. Colon is listed at 6 feet, but saying he is close to that is like saying Cleveland is close to the equator. He is 5-10 at most, maybe even 5-9, which makes his nearly 100 mph fastball all the more marvelous. The Indians finally signed him at 18 and sent him on what must have seemed like an interminable journey. He dominated at every minor league level, the only hitch coming when he was snowed in at Newark Airport while on the way to the Indians' winter development program in 1996. He finally arrived at Davis' house in Cleveland -- three days late, by way of Philadelphia. He was scared. "You could tell in his eyes, he was petrified. Allen Davis is obviously an Americanized name," said Davis, born in Puerto Rico. "When I said, 'It's OK, Bartolo, I speak Spanish,' this look of relief came over his face." Colon lived with Davis during the development program. "It was like having a kid around the house," Davis said. "He was asking me all these questions about snow, and whether it snowed like that during the season. This was as far north as he had been." After two straight seasons with elbow problems, Colon finally was healthy in '97. He went 7-1 with a 2.22 ERA at Class AAA -- including a no-hitter. But he struggled in the majors -- 4-7, 5.65 ERA. Homesickness, his wife's pregnancy and repeated demotions weighed him down. Colon stayed in Cleveland during the winter to hone his workouts and language skills. It was a mixed blessing. Though uncomfortable speaking English in public, Colon understands it quite well. So he didn't miss rumors that he might be traded to Seattle for Randy Johnson. "It tormented him over the winter," Davis said. "It reached the point where he was wishing the club would trade him so he'd stop hearing all this stuff." The Indians are glad they didn't. Colon has pitched at least eight innings in nine of 17 starts, and is frighteningly efficient for a power pitcher. He needed only 95 pitches in a four-hit shutout against Pittsburgh on June 8. He gets stronger as the game goes on, pumping 99 mph fastballs in the ninth inning of several of his complete games. "When he's a finished product, he has the potential to be a 20-game winner every year," manager Mike Hargrove said. "He's got No. 1 stuff." Colon, now the father of 9-month-old Bartolo Jr., has pitched like a man who never wants to see Buffalo again. The key to his development has been quick mastery of a two-seam fastball. With more polish, it might someday look like Greg Maddux's crafty, darting fastball that nips the corners -- only at 96 mph. "He's a quick study," Indians general manager John Hart said. "He picked up the two-seamer like that -- boom!" The next job is to avoid injuries. Through a miscommunication in the dugout, Hargrove lost track of Colon's pitch-count June 21 against the Yankees. He threw 139 -- dangerous territory for a young pitcher approaching the highest innings total of his pro career. "I won't criticize Grover, because I know he feels badly about that," Hart said. "This is still a guy we need to protect to a degree." The reason was summed up in a recent newspaper headline in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. It read, "Bartolo Colon es de verdad." Translation: The real deal.
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