Al Leiter is the worst hitting pitcher Robin Ventura has ever seen — “hands down, it’s not even a question,” he said.
But the White Sox manager said Sunday morning he intends to seek out the footage of Bartolo Colon’s now-legendary home run because he believes the New York Mets pitcher could qualify as the worst hitter to ever homer.
At 42, Colon is now the oldest player in baseball history to hit his first home run. His 365-foot drive to left field off San Diego Padres pitcher James Shields on Saturday night was splashed across the internet on Saturday night (check out the Spanish home run call) and caused one Newsday scribe to opine “it confirmed, at long last, the existence of a baseball God.” Colon reportedly took 30 seconds to trot around the bases and he clutched his bat all the way to first base.
“I could appreciate that,” Ventura said. “That’s not bad.
“I didn’t see it. I heard a lot about it. I want to watch it.”
Through 249 career plate appearances, Colon has a slash line of .092/.099/.114 with two doubles, a homer and 11 RBIs. He has struck out 121 times and never walked.
In a 19-year career, Colon has played for eight teams and had two stops with the White Sox, in 2003 and again in 2009. Pitching coach Don Cooper is the team’s lone on-field link to Colon, who went hitless in seven plate appearances for the White Sox.
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Cooper has fond memories of Colon’s two tours.
“Listen, Bartolo is definitely one of the best pitchers I’ve ever had,” Cooper said. “In his heyday, he could throw the ball, he could manipulate the ball and obviously now with his National League time he’s improving the craft of hitting also.”
Even though he had just finished a gem of his own on Saturday, becoming the first pitcher in the majors to win seven games, Chris Sale had already seen the footage. He told MLB.com he had no problem if Colon’s blast took any attention away from his feat.
“It was sick,” Sale said. “That was awesome. I'll step down for that one any day.”