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Harper: Bartolo Colon is unlikely workout warrior of Mets
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Harper: Bartolo Colon is unlikely workout warrior of Mets

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PORT ST. LUCIE — It’s 8 p.m. on Friday night, some six hours after the Mets’ spring training day ended, and at an LA Fitness a few miles down I-95, I am watching Bartolo Colon go through a high-intensity workout.

Yes, Bartolo Colon.

The Mets’ 42-year old righthander, whose ample physique makes him a common-man figure and fan favorite, but also an easy target for cheap-shot fat jokes, is on an empty racquetball court, going through a series of exercises with stretch bands: pushing, pulling, kicking, sprinting in place against various levels of resistance, as applied by Colon’s trainer.

It looks exhausting. Colon has already put in 40 minutes on a stationary bike, and now works for 30 minutes with the bands.

This was no PR set-up either. Working out at the LA Fitness here the last couple of weeks, I kept seeing Colon at the gym as well, sometimes doing cardio, sometimes doing leg workouts on machines, and sometimes using the bands.

At first I did the classic double-take: is that really…nah, can’t be. Bartolo Colon, workout warrior? Who would have thought?

I pose that question to Jeurys Familia, who accompanies Colon to the gym on most nights, along with Rafael Montero and Hansel Robles, in the Mets’ clubhouse and he laughs.

“If you tell somebody, they don’t believe it,” Familia says. “But you’ve seen it. You see how he works. People think this sport is easy, but if you want to be good you have to work hard. I’ve learned a lot about that from Bartolo.”

Big body or not, Colon obviously has rare athletic ability that belies his age. You see the quick feet as he fields his position, not to mention that rather famous behind-the-back flip he made to get an out first base last September against the Marlins.

Perhaps with that in mind, David Wright wasn’t surprised to hear that Colon works out at night on his own despite early wake-up calls here during spring training.

“People make assumptions but if you’re around Bartolo you see how he prepares,” Wright said. Then he smiled and continued.

“I’d bet a significant amount of money that he’s the most flexible guy on the team. I see him prepare on the days when he’s pitching. He’s got a stretching routine second to none.”

Bullpen coach Ricky Bones agreed, noting that he’s seen Colon do a cheerleader-like split like with ease.

Colon is the Mets' unlikely workhorse.Jeff Roberson/AP

Colon is the Mets’ unlikely workhorse.

“It’s nothing for him,” Bones said. “Or you see him kick his leg over his head higher than anybody,” Bones said.

I might have trouble buying all of this if I hadn’t seen him doing his band exercises, kicking in all angles with significantly more flexibility than the younger players doing the same workout.

After first witnessing him at LA Fitness I asked Colon, through the Mets’ PR staff, if he would talk about his workouts. He declined more than once, but with some help from Familia I wore him down, and when I approached him Sunday at his corner spot in the clubhouse, he seemed happy to talk for a few minutes.

He explained that he goes to the gym six nights a week — “Not Sunday; I rest,” — he said with a smile.

“I’ve been doing it since 2003,” he said of his workouts. “I like to go home after we’re done here, sleep in the afternoon, then get up and go to the gym.

“I work hard, I try to show the young guys how to work so they can be at their best. If I wasn’t doing it, I don’t think I’d still be pitching.”

The work ethic is admirable, but let’s not be naïve: while playing for the A’s in 2012 Colon received a 50-game suspension for using PEDs, so it’s fair to wonder how much help he’s had beyond his workouts that have allowed him to play into his 40s. In the past he talked about a stem-cell procedure on his throwing shoulder that revived his career after he sat out the 2010 season.

But however he’s done it, Colon transformed himself from a power pitcher throwing in the mid-to-high 90s a decade or more ago to a control artist hitting the corners at 89 mph and making his two-seam fastball move like a wiffle ball at times.

As such he has played a valuable role with the Mets, the steady, durable veteran among the young fireballers in the starting rotation.

In addition, he has become something of a cult figure among fans who likely are amused as well as amazed by his size. So what will they think reading about Colon’s workout regimen?

“I don’t worry about that,” he said with a smile. “I just love to pitch, so I do my work so I can keep pitching.”

He is never going to be Slim Bart, no matter how many hours he puts in at the gym. But he’s in better shape than his size would have you believe. I can vouch for that.

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