During his Mets career, there have always been the two Bartolo Colons.  There is the loveable oaf that everyone seems to cheer on when he takes the mound, and then there are the statistics that say he has actually been a below average pitcher during his Mets career.  However, there was one area where the fascination met reality – Colon’s defense.

The love affair began last year with the nifty behind the back flip in Miami to nail Justin Bour at first base on a little dribbler up the first base line:

It continued into this season with Colon making a number of dazzling plays, but there was none more impressive than Colon’s Willie Mays impersonation:

The play is all the more stunning when you consider that as soon as Little League pitchers are taught to not go anywhere near a pop up.  Rather than defer to Neil Walker, and by extension allow the bunt single to happen, Colon ventured back and made a fine play.  It was perhaps the best defensive play made by a pitcher this season.  Typically, highlight reels plays, as opposed to really good defense, are what gets people nominated for Gold Gloves (just look at Derek Jeter).

The issue with Colon was he was actually more than just pizzazz.  In fact, he was the best defensive pitcher all season.  His 8 DRS (they do not calculate UZR for pitchers) was the tops in the major leagues.  Between the highlight reel plays and his actual defensive numbers, Colon should have won the Gold Glove.  As it turns out, he wasn’t even a finalist.  It is a shame because Hopefully, Colon will be able to get over the snub by remembering the most improbable moment of the entire 2016 season: