Bartolo Colon will pitch in 2020. The 46-year-old right-hander has signed a deal with the Monclova Acereros of the Mexican Baseball League.
"Bartolo Colon would be an important piece of the pitching staff of the current champions, becoming one of the bigger signings in our baseball history," the team said in a press release on Friday. "The 'Big Sexy' show would be something the Monclova fans will be to enjoy."
Colon, who turns 47 in May, has not pitched for a Major League team in two years. His last stint in the big leagues was the 2018 season which he spent with the Texas Rangers. He finished the year with a 7-12 record and 5.78 ERA in 146 1/3 innings pitched. The veteran hurler recorded 3.24 K/BB and 1.346 WHIP.
He made a total of four All-Star games, including his most recent All-Star nod, in 2016, at the age of 43, while with the New York Mets. In his last season in the majors, Colon carried a perfect game into the eighth inning against the Houston Astros.
Since making his MLB debut in 1997 with the Cleveland Indians, Colon has an overall 247-188 record in 565 total games, with 552 games as a starter. His win total is the most wins by a Dominican-born pitcher in MLB history, and his wins also rank for the most by any Latin-born pitcher in MLB history. He also earned the American League Cy Young Award in 2005 with the Los Angeles Angels, finishing with a league-best 21 wins and 3.48 ERA.
Since 2016, Colon has not recorded a season with an ERA below 5.78. A successful stint with the Mexican Baseball League could theoretically lead to an opportunity with a big-league club, but while Colon has revived his career in the past, and he still showed signs of control in his latter MLB seasons, his chances of making it back to the big leagues are slim.
