Arnie stapleton, Associated Press
July 18, 2020 | 8:09 a. M.
DENVER – Daniel Bard never ran from the mental hiccup that derailed a promising pitching career with the Red Sox.
Through half a dozen return attempts since his last major league appearance in 2013, Bard was unable to rediscover his control and eventually settled on a job last year as a player mentor and mental skills coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks. .
In addition to offering advice or just a shoulder to the players, he would shake off the flying balls and play some catch during warm-ups. Soon, the players began to tell him that his pitches were pretty nasty and wondered why he himself wasn’t on a major league mound.
Intrigued, Bard returned to a mound in January in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“He was pitching in the mid-90s, throwing punches with ease, and he hadn’t done that in eight years,” Bard said. “So that’s when I thought, ‘OK, I think I’m going to seriously consider it.'”
Rockies manager Bud Black informed Bard, 34, on Friday that he had made the list.
“It will be a great story when I come back and pitch well,” Black said. “We are optimistic about it.”
Even though it’s been more than seven years since he last pitched in the majors, Bard said he’s not even thinking about the first hitter he’ll face when the 60-game season begins later this month.
“I haven’t even gotten there yet,” said Bard. “In many ways, I think climbing a mound at the spring training games in March was as much of an obstacle as any other and then having the opportunity to pitch in these games within the squad” this month when the teams turned to gather after the delay caused by the coronavirus.
“I’m sure there will be a bit more adrenaline once we have something real next week, but I will take it one step at a time and trust that it will be similar to what is happening.” Bard said.
Bard was considered the closer he expected in Boston after a quick promotion to the big leagues. The 28th pick in the 2006 draft reached the majors in 2009 and in his first 197 innings had a 2.88 ERA with an incredible 9.7 strikeouts for every nine innings.
He developed control issues in 2012 when his ERA soared to 6.22 and he soon found himself embroiled in a full case of the Yips, unable to consistently find the plate with any of his pitches. An abdominal injury limited him to just two appearances in 2013, and in subsequent seasons he had failed in his comeback attempts with the Rangers, Cardinals and Mets.
The Rockies gave him one last chance this year and he made the most of it, regaining not only his control but also his confidence with a stellar spring and strong summer when he returned home to Greenville, SC, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Just by signing a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, “I thought, ‘This is really cool,'” Bard said. “I never thought I would pitch (again) in any major league game, spring training or not.”
This spring, he finally felt comfortable again on the mound and in his skin.
“I had signed all kinds of 2012-17 deals, a lot of different teams, trying to come back and I never felt comfortable because I wasn’t sure what I was doing on the field,” said Bard. “And a lot of my identity was tied to that, so even in a clubhouse setting, every time you’re part of a team, you want to be the type that can bear your own weight. And I was terrible. He couldn’t strike, and he wasn’t a taxpayer, so that makes you feel like you’re adding luggage and weight that everyone else has to take care of.
“Being at the clubhouse this year, I knew it was different on the mound.”
Even the hiatus from his teammates between mid-March and mid-July did not lessen Bard’s mood. Bard said the time back home in Greenville simulated the minor league season he expected to start the season.
“It was a good thing for me, honestly,” he said. “It was a great blessing in disguise. I was able to go home, I had a great group of guys to train with. They opened the stadium for me and I was able to pitch like 10-12 BP live to hitters from Triple-A and the big leagues and got tons of feedback, I was really comfortable with my repertoire. ”
He had a couple of nervous moments when summer camp started at Coors Field earlier this month, but he quickly saw that his sinker had enough movement at altitude.
“Maybe not exactly at sea level, but it definitely has enough movement to be a decent course,” he said.
In this strangest season, Bard believes he could be the biggest beneficiary. His control issues never had anything to do with performance anxiety in front of large crowds, so empty brackets won’t bother him one bit, he said.
“In any case, I’m very used to pitching without fans,” he said, “given all the backfields I’ve had to pitch.”
