Colon’s punchouts

Bartolo Colon. Seriously, what else can we say about this guy right now? I thought that, at best, Colon would give the Yankees a few decent starts before either getting hurt or blowing up completely and getting cut. However, as we well know, he’s been the team’s second best starter behind CC Sabathia and has already given me more than I ever expected.

The best part of this is that Colon is pumping the strikeouts like crazy this year. He’s pitched 33 innings this year and has struck out 33 batters, good for a K/9 of 9.0 (more impressive could be that he’s walked just six batters in those 33 innings, good for a 1.63 BB/9 and a 5.5 K/BB). Last night, Colon added seven strikeouts in seven innings to get up to those 33 whiffs. Let’s use the Gameday data to see what pitches got Bartolo the whiffs last night. We’ll also, of course, be using some data from Brooks Baseball (while you’re on Brooks check this out)

First up was, shockingly enough, Austin Jackson. In the first inning, Jackson saw three fastballs. He fouled the first one off, then looked at the next two for strikes two and three.

Colon’s second victim was Ryan Raburn in the second inning. Like Jackson, Raburn went down looking. The difference was that Colon painted the outside corner with a two seamer instead of a four seamer this time.

After an Alex Avila homer, Colon sent Brandon Inge down swinging on a four seam fastball. Three strikeouts on three fastballs so far.

A second trip to the plate in the third inning ended in another strikeout for Ajax. He was again sent down by the four seamer, but this time he went down swinging.

Colon didn’t strike a batter out again until the bottom of the fifth. You’ll never guess who it was (it was Austin Jackson). Bartolo sent Austin down for the third time, this time catching Austin looking at the two seam fastball.

Another inning, another strikeout. This time, Colon ended the sixth by throwing Ryan Raburn three straight fastballs that Raburn just watched. Thanks for showing up, Ryan.

Colon’s last strikeout came against Brandon Inge again and, of course, it was on the two seam fastball.

More like Bartolo KKKKKKKolon, AMIRITE?! Okay, corny jokes aside, this is just awesome to see. Colon’s just blowing guys away with his fastball and his location at this point and it’s just damn fun to watch. It’s cool to see Freddy Garcia get some swings and misses with the breaking stuff and watching CC fool hitters with his changeup is a hoot, but seeing Bartolo rear back and put it by hitters with number one is just plain fun. That sounds corny as hell, but I’m okay with it. Keep it up, Bart.

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