Christian Colón and Returning to the Top

Colón reached the top of the baseball world, and now he’s earning his way back with the Buffalo Bisons

It’s still the first thing they ask: What’s it like at the top?

Few have experienced what Christian Colón has — the extra innings, game tied, World Series on the line moment. They want to know how heavy the weight of a championship felt resting on his shoulders. Waiting for their opportunity, Nate Pearson, Alek Manoah, and Kevin Smith all ask how it felt to deliver.

Colón happily and honestly retells the stories because they still motivate him. Now among minor leaguers hoping to one day stand where he stood, it’s those tales that propel Colón back. Days before the 2021 MLB season, Colón was out of affiliated baseball, but the Toronto Blue Jays have given him a chance to earn his return to the top, and he’s taking advantage.

“I'm going to do whatever I need to do, and whatever you need from me,” Colón said. "I just want an opportunity."

Colón has played in 161 Major League games across six seasons, hit one MLB homer, and has a career .622 OPS. But for a moment in October 2015, he was the most important man in baseball. After not appearing at the plate for a month, Colón connected on a fifth pitch slider and dropped a single into left field. Jarrod Dyson darted down the third-base line and Colón stood at first with a smile on his face and a World Series winning hit forever on his resume.

“I’ve been at the top of the game,” Colón said. “And being at the top, that felt so good: top prospect, World Series. But I’ve been at the bottom too.”

Colón was a first-round pick in the 2010 MLB Draft and one of the league’s top prospects. A decade after his draft day, he was out of the big leagues. With a week before the 2021 minor league season, Colón was set to play for the Independent League Kansas City Monarchs, returning to the city with his best baseball memories but leaving the league they came in. He had to ask himself if he was willing to continue playing the game just for the love, but two days before he was to report to KC, the Toronto Blue Jays changed his plans.

Toronto didn’t explain a path from the Buffalo Bisons to the big leagues or entice Colón with a lucrative contract, but they gave him the only thing he needed. Colón had told his wife he wanted to play for the Blue Jays someday, he’d only heard good things about the culture and coaching staff, he said, but the best thing they could offer him was an opportunity.

In 2019 and 2020, Colón was a member of the Cincinnati Reds organization, appearing in 11 Major League games before he was demoted to the alternate site last season. The training was productive and it was professional, but it was hard, Colón said. He couldn’t showcase his in-game talents for the Reds, let alone make a case to any other team he deserved a next contract.

All teams could see was Colón’s .130 batting average and three 2021 hits, so he took the alt-site demotion as motivation to get into the best shape of his career. He dropped 35 pounds, worked back into All-American shortstop shape, and came to the Bisons with two days of preseason left willing and working to reshape the perception of his offensive potential.

Coming out of a Royals organization that prioritized batted balls, hitting the other way, and playing small ball at an unprecedentedly effective level, Colón adapted to his surroundings. He wasn’t as aggressive as he was in college and became known as a guy who could put the ball in play with elite hand-eye coordination. In 2021, that’s a dying breed.

“I’ve been able to survive like that,” Colón said. “But I wanted to take my game to another level. If not now, when?”

In a late June game against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Colón reached for a first-pitch fastball. The pitch caught the outside part of the zone, but his bat met it there, driving the ball deep. As the liner passed the outfield wall, just foul, Bisons manager Casey Candaele turned to his hitting coach, Corey Hart, and asked if Colón was always a big power guy.

“No,” Hart told his manager. “I think the most home runs he’s ever hit is 10.”

In 43 games with the Bisons, Colón has eight homers, the highest slugging percentage of his career at any level, and has climbed into the heart of Buffalo's batting order. Colón had tried to hit for power before, putting on weight to beef his way into some pop, but the 2021 power has come from the lost pounds, an aggressive mentality, and some well-explained lower-body tweaks from hitting coach Hart.

“No joke, this has changed my career from an offensive standpoint,” Colón said.

While MLB teams were at 2021 Spring Training, Colón was helping at local baseball practices and giving hitting lessons (Image courtesy of Christian Colón) 

He’s playing five different defensive positions, leading the Bisons in hits, and, as promised, doing anything the organization asks of him. He brings championship experience to a Triple-A team housing some of Toronto’s top prospects, is not afraid to speak out when needed, and has helped establish a player-driven culture for a Bisons team playing without a home stadium.

Infielders Kevin Smith, Cullen Large, and Logan Warmoth always have the former Royals’ ear, Candaele said. Colón gives them advice when they ask and listens to their ideas, too. He is a leader for the entire team, championing a “real good clubhouse vibe,” according to Patrick Murphy, hanging out in the locker room long after games end, and giving parting advice to pitchers like Pearson and Manoah before their MLB call ups.

He’s a natural leader, Candaele said, and the heights he’s been to provide stories that keep veterans, prospects, and kids equally captivated. He doesn’t wear his World Series ring or even bust it out of the safe much, but he’ll sometimes sneak it to local baseball fields or hitting lessons he’s hosting.

While the rest of the MLB world was wrapping 2021 Spring Training, Colón was working with 11- and 12-year-old ballplayers, bringing the ring so they could touch it, take pictures, and hear the same stories that Pearson and Manoah ask about. He brings it for them, but it’s a reminder of what he’s done, and the peak he’s trying to return to.

“I feel respected, and that’s a blessing,” Colón said. “I feel like I’ve achieved something, and I consider myself a winner. When I look at the ring, it’s a reminder.”