As any high schooler who has just been forced to read The Iliad
and The Odyssey can tell you, an epic must have three basic
elements: seemingly interminable length, a fair amount of action
and a main character capable of performing physical feats of
mythic proportions. The most recent saga to meet those criteria:
the 10-minute, 20-pitch, 14-foul-ball confrontation between
Indians starter Bartolo Colon and Astros shortstop Ricky
Gutierrez that took place in one at bat in last Friday night's
showdown of Central Division leaders in Cleveland.
The hero of that epic tale turned out to be Colon. The
23-year-old righty threw 18 fastballs during the at bat, the
last of which dove straight at Gutierrez's shoe tops, causing
him to flail helplessly and finally strike out. More impressive
was the fact that even though he was facing Gutierrez in the
eighth inning on an unbearably hot and humid night, Colon hit 99
on the radar gun five times at Gutierrez.
Colon now fires a two-seam fastball.
(David Liam Kyle)
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Velocity is nothing new for Colon. Success—at least at the
major league level—is. As a rookie last year, Colon struggled
to a 4-7 record and a 5.65 ERA during five stints with the
Indians. After he picked up the victory in Cleveland's 4-2 win
over Houston last Friday, his '98 record stood at 8-4 and his
2.51 ERA was the second best in the American League. He had held
opponents to a .207 batting average, the lowest in the league.
"This year he's been more comfortable," says Indians pitching
coach Mark Wiley. "Even if you have great talent, you still have
to feel like you belong and feel relaxed at the big league
level. It takes young players time."
Colon, who packs 215 pounds on his six-foot frame and has legs
like oak trunks, has always thrown hard, but before this year he
always threw the ball straight. That was O.K. in the minors (he
went 7-1 and tossed a no-hitter for Triple A Buffalo last
season), but it didn't work against major league hitters. This
year he has mastered a two-seam fastball, which reaches the
plate almost as fast as his aforementioned 99-mph, four-seam
heater. But while the four-seamer comes right down Main Street,
the two-seamer takes some confounding detours. "We wanted to get
him something he could keep down in the strike zone to go along
with his higher fastball," says Wiley. "We didn't want him to
stay on one plane too much." The plan worked. During the Tribe's
recent 11-0 rout of the Yankees, in which Colon gave up just
three hits in eight innings, New York third baseman Scott
Brosius strolled over to Indians third base coach Jeff Newman
and lamented, "It's bad enough he throws so hard, but none of
his pitches is straight."
As for becoming more comfortable, the soft-spoken Colon, who
speaks little English, has benefited from spending the
off-season in Cleveland and getting acclimated to the town. He
has also worked extensively with Charles Maher, the Indians'
team psychologist. "I've learned how to put everything into
perspective," Colon says through an interpreter. "The key word
here is focus. In actual throwing time, you're talking about 10
minutes per game. So for those 10 minutes, we work on putting
everything into focus."
With his manager, Mike Hargrove, due to pick the American League
All-Star pitching staff this week, Colon appeared to be a
virtual lock to make the Midsummer Classic. Hargrove has even
said that Colon could be his starter, and the pitcher's stats
would put to rest any claims of favoritism. Pretty heady stuff
for a kid who was sent down to Buffalo five times last year.
Tell us what you think. Sound off on the CNN/SI Message Boards.
Issue date: July 6, 1998
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