Bartolo Colon, 50, has officially retired from baseball, Z101’s Hector Gomez reported.
The right-hander, whose Major League career spanned 21 seasons, joined the Mets in 2014 and became a dependable part of the rotation for three seasons.
He threw 31-plus starts each year, with his best statistical season coming in 2016 when he finished 15-8 with a 3.43 ERA and earned his fourth and final All-Star Game selection.
Colon’s durability and longevity on the mound might have been overshadowed, however, by one swing of the bat in May 2016.
The career .084 hitter stepped in during a May 7 game in San Diego and walloped a 1-1 pitch from James Shields over the left field wall for his first — and only — career home run.
“Once I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Colon said after the game. “The ball in San Diego travels well.
“I think right now this is probably the biggest moment in my career.”
That career might’ve only had 25 hits, but it was filled with some strong seasons on the mound, including 2005, when he won the American League Cy Young award with the Angels.
In 2015 and 2016 with the Mets, his impeccable command allowed him to lead the National League with the fewest walks allowed per nine innings.
Overall across his career, Colon won 247 games and struck out 2,535 batters over 3,461 2/3 innings.
Colon has been at Citi Field a couple of times in the last two years, pitching during the team’s Old Timers’ game last summer and throwing out the first pitch before the team’s May 7 game against the Rockies this year, seven years after his long trot around the bases.