MLB Game Preview - Atlanta at NY Mets

Wed Apr 5, 2017 7:10 PM EDT

NEW YORK -- Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker came up with a pretty direct way of answering a common question about Bartolo Colon's impact on a young team.

"Some of these guys don't know Major League Baseball without him in it," Snitker said.

There are more than a few New York Mets fans who might have a hard time remembering life without Colon on their favorite team.

New York fans, as well as the players in uniform, will experience a reminder of what life is like with Colon on another team on Wednesday night, when the ageless right-hander makes his first start for the Braves by opposing his most recent former club at Citi Field.

The 43-year-old Colon is scheduled to oppose one of his many former teammates, right-hander Jacob deGrom.

The Mets beat the Braves 6-0 in the season opener for both teams on Monday afternoon.

Colon's three-year stint in Queens ended when he signed a one-year deal with the Braves in November. But Colon's impact on the Mets -- for whom he recorded a team-high 44 wins and 588 2/3 innings pitched while posting a 3.90 ERA and helping New York to a World Series appearance in 2015 and an NL wild card game berth in 2016 -- remains tangible even as he wears the opposing uniform.

"He was a definite factor of what we've accomplished in the last two years," Mets manager Terry Collins said Monday. "I mean, this guy gave us quality inning after quality inning. He was a force with the young Latin players. I still say today that (reliever) Hansel Robles' development, (closer) Jeurys Familia's development, is in correlation with the fact that Bartolo Colon was in that room. They came fast, and I think he taught them how to be major league pitchers."

Snitker expects Colon -- who received a warm standing ovation from a sellout crowd during Monday's introduction of the Braves along the third base line -- to impart the same lessons to the Braves.

"He's done it for so long and he knows how to do it," Snitker said. "I think his day-in, day-out preparation. Guys can just kind of look to him for that. I think he brings leadership, he brings guidance. I know to the young Latin population that we have, and anybody (else). When a guy's been that successful and has done it for that long, it's a pretty good resource, it's a good guide for these guys to look at."

The first start of Colon's 20th major league season will provide plenty reminders of just how long he's been pitching. He'll be making his 501st career start a day after the 20th anniversary of his major league debut, when he pitched for the Cleveland Indians against the Anaheim Angels, who were managed by Collins.

The Indians' first baseman for Colon's debut was current Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer.

The Braves opened Turner Field the same day Colon debuted. Turner Field closed after last season and Atlanta plays its first regular season game at Sun Trust Park on April 14.

Colon is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA in five career starts against the Mets, whom he has not faced since 2011. DeGrom is 3-3 with a 1.90 ERA in eight career starts against the Braves.