Bartolo Colon-2009
Scout Tales... Bartolo Colon
One of the intriguing aspects about
sports is that once the game begins
you never know if something special
will happen that day. Like taking a
walk on a beach, mixed in amongst
the millions of grains of sand you
may just find that perfect shell.
It was 1995 and after a spring of
scouting for the June free agent, I
was assigned to cover the Carolina
League for the Florida Marlins. With
eight teams to cover, as well as my
summer ball back in the Midwest, it
was a hectic summer that would
oddly be affected by a hurricane.
I was in Frederick, Maryland finishing
up my coverage of the Keys and I
needed to follow them to lovely (sic)
Kinston, North Carolina to see the
last starting pitcher and grab any
extra looks at the relievers. I had
already filed reports on the Kinston
Indians, but it was good to be able to
double-back to see the Indians club
that would ultimately win the league
championship.
The Kinston club featured ten future
major leaguers with Richie Sexson at
first, Enrique Wilson at short, Bruce
Aven in the tall grass and Einar Diaz
behind the plate catching the likes of
Danny Graves and Bartolo Colon.
Sexson would give us a tickle of his
power with 22 homers, while Wilson
and Diaz were defensive specialists.
Aven would also launch the ball with
23 home runs, though he would hit
just 20 during his major league
career. Graves, wearing a big knee
brace from an earlier surgery would
post a minuscule 0.82 ERA out of the
pen, while Colon went 13-3, 1.96 on
the season.
It was August and hurricane season
was in full force. With Hurricane Felix
off the east coast of the Atlantic, I
was forced to scramble out of Kinston
to Cary, NC for a couple of days. As
rains pounded North Carolina, the
first game of the series was
cancelled. The next day I called down
to the front office expecting to hear of
another cancellation. Surprisingly the
young man on the other end noted
that the game was still on for that
night, as they anticipated a break in
the rain due to the eye of the
hurricane moving inland. Hmmm.
Showing blind faith and desperate to
see the last starting pitcher for
Frederick, I packed my radar gun up
and headed to Kinston. Well it rained
the entire trip down until I pulled
within range of Kinston. Sure
enough, the rains had stopped as I
turned into the parking lot of
Grainger Stadium. The sight was not
pretty, as one of the outfield fence
signs was just leaned up against the
wall and parts of the stadium roof
were missing, but the game was
going to be played.
As the grounds crew scurried around
the infield, I made way to my seat
behind home plate still trying to make
sense of whole situation. My answer
came within minutes as I saw Bartolo
Colon stride out to the mound and
Indians General Manager John Hart
sitting to my right. Colon + Hart =
Game Played.
Well, that night Colon was unhittable.
With a fastball that was 95 to 98 mph
and an 88 mph hard curve that was
devastating, the boys from Frederick
had no chance. He fanned the first
three with ease in the first. Strike
after strike continued as he sent the
next three Keys hitters back to the
dugout on strikeouts. In the third
inning, Colon continued the assault
with three more K’s.
It was amazing, as he fanned nine
straight on just 31 pitches. I just
remember one hitter turning to the
umpire and chuckling (which I had
never seen before) after the
strikeout, as the kid realized that he
had just faced something special.
Unfortunately for all of us, the
backside of Hurricane Felix’s rains
came and washed out the game
before the start of the fourth inning;
otherwise we might have seen
history, as on that one night Bartolo
Colon may have struck out all 27
Frederick Keys.
But for me, it was the most
memorable minor league game I
have ever seen in my 20 years in
baseball.
(4/18/09)
One of the intriguing aspects about
sports is that once the game begins
you never know if something special
will happen that day. Like taking a
walk on a beach, mixed in amongst
the millions of grains of sand you
may just find that perfect shell.
It was 1995 and after a spring of
scouting for the June free agent, I
was assigned to cover the Carolina
League for the Florida Marlins. With
eight teams to cover, as well as my
summer ball back in the Midwest, it
was a hectic summer that would
oddly be affected by a hurricane.
I was in Frederick, Maryland finishing
up my coverage of the Keys and I
needed to follow them to lovely (sic)
Kinston, North Carolina to see the
last starting pitcher and grab any
extra looks at the relievers. I had
already filed reports on the Kinston
Indians, but it was good to be able to
double-back to see the Indians club
that would ultimately win the league
championship.
The Kinston club featured ten future
major leaguers with Richie Sexson at
first, Enrique Wilson at short, Bruce
Aven in the tall grass and Einar Diaz
behind the plate catching the likes of
Danny Graves and Bartolo Colon.
Sexson would give us a tickle of his
power with 22 homers, while Wilson
and Diaz were defensive specialists.
Aven would also launch the ball with
23 home runs, though he would hit
just 20 during his major league
career. Graves, wearing a big knee
brace from an earlier surgery would
post a minuscule 0.82 ERA out of the
pen, while Colon went 13-3, 1.96 on
the season.
It was August and hurricane season
was in full force. With Hurricane Felix
off the east coast of the Atlantic, I
was forced to scramble out of Kinston
to Cary, NC for a couple of days. As
rains pounded North Carolina, the
first game of the series was
cancelled. The next day I called down
to the front office expecting to hear of
another cancellation. Surprisingly the
young man on the other end noted
that the game was still on for that
night, as they anticipated a break in
the rain due to the eye of the
hurricane moving inland. Hmmm.
Showing blind faith and desperate to
see the last starting pitcher for
Frederick, I packed my radar gun up
and headed to Kinston. Well it rained
the entire trip down until I pulled
within range of Kinston. Sure
enough, the rains had stopped as I
turned into the parking lot of
Grainger Stadium. The sight was not
pretty, as one of the outfield fence
signs was just leaned up against the
wall and parts of the stadium roof
were missing, but the game was
going to be played.
As the grounds crew scurried around
the infield, I made way to my seat
behind home plate still trying to make
sense of whole situation. My answer
came within minutes as I saw Bartolo
Colon stride out to the mound and
Indians General Manager John Hart
sitting to my right. Colon + Hart =
Game Played.
Well, that night Colon was unhittable.
With a fastball that was 95 to 98 mph
and an 88 mph hard curve that was
devastating, the boys from Frederick
had no chance. He fanned the first
three with ease in the first. Strike
after strike continued as he sent the
next three Keys hitters back to the
dugout on strikeouts. In the third
inning, Colon continued the assault
with three more K’s.
It was amazing, as he fanned nine
straight on just 31 pitches. I just
remember one hitter turning to the
umpire and chuckling (which I had
never seen before) after the
strikeout, as the kid realized that he
had just faced something special.
Unfortunately for all of us, the
backside of Hurricane Felix’s rains
came and washed out the game
before the start of the fourth inning;
otherwise we might have seen
history, as on that one night Bartolo
Colon may have struck out all 27
Frederick Keys.
But for me, it was the most
memorable minor league game I
have ever seen in my 20 years in
baseball.
(4/18/09)
