Daniel Bard

Daniel Paul Bard

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 195 lb.
• School University of North Carolina
• High School Charlotte Christian High School
• Debut May 13, 2009

• Born June 25, 1985 in Houston, TX USA

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Biographical Information

Pitcher Daniel Bard played five seasons for the Boston Red Sox. He was known to throw his fastball in the high 90s and made his major league debut with the team in 2009, but after initial success struggled badly, beginning in 2012 and was out of the majors for six full seasons before making a comeback in 2020.

Amateur career

Bard was drafted in the 20th round of the 2003 amateur draft by the New York Yankees but did not sign. He played college ball at the University of North Carolina and posted a 23-12 record with a 3.86 ERA in three seasons. As a freshman, he was 8-4 with a 3.88 ERA and made the Baseball America Freshman All-America second team alongside teammate Andrew Miller. He was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and made the All-Conference team, the only freshman to do so that season. In 2005, Daniel faded to 7-5, 4.22. Bard had a 9-4, 3.64 record in his junior season. In his first start of the 2006 College World Series, he was knocked for five runs and 12 hits. He got the call for UNC in the finale of the Series against Oregon State University and allowed 6 hits, 3 runs (one earned) and a walk in 7 2/3 innings.

Minor league career

Daniel was selected by the Boston Red Sox with the 28th pick in the first round of the 2006 amateur draft (compensation for the loss of Johnny Damon). He was signed by scout Jeff Zona and made his pro debut the following year with the Lancaster JetHawks. Bard was 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA in 5 games for Lancaster, walking 22 and allowing 21 hits in just 13 1/3 innings. He was demoted to the Greenville Drive, where he had a 3-5, 6.42 record in 17 starts, walking almost a batter per inning. His 27 wild pitches tied Jared Hughes for third in the affiliated minors, only two shy of the lead. Moved to the bullpen in 2008, Daniel improved. He was 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA for Greenville, giving up only 12 hits and 4 walks in 28 innings while striking out 43. Promoted to the Portland Sea Dogs, he went 4-1 with 7 saves and a 1.99 ERA. In 49 2/3 innings, he struck out 64 and was stingy, allowing just a .173 average to the opposition. Baseball America rated him the 9th best prospect in the Eastern League, between J.P. Arencibia and Austin Jackson. Bard opened 2009 with the Pawtucket Red Sox, going 1-0 with 6 saves and a 1.13 ERA in 11 games. He fanned 29 and allowed only 6 hits in 16 innings. He was then called up to The Show to replace Javier López on the roster.

Major leagues

Bard debuted in the majors on May 13, 2009. He relieved Hunter Jones with a 7-4 deficit in the 6th against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, two on and none out. He fanned Mike Napoli on three pitches, gave up a sacrifice fly, then got Howie Kendrick on a grounder. In the 7th, he got Erick Aybar on a grounder. Chone Figgins singled, but Reggie Willits popped up. Bobby Abreu drew a full count walk, then Bard recovered to get Torii Hunter to hit into an inning-ending force out. Takashi Saito replaced him on the hill. He continued to pitch out of the BoSox bullpen after that successful first stint, going 2-2, 3.65 in 49 games, then pitched three perfect innings in the ALDS as the Red Sox were swept by the Angels.

Bard began 2010 as the set-up man for Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon. He pitched in 73 games, maintaining a sparkling 1.73 ERA, with a record of 1-2 and 3 saves. He struck out 76 batters in 74 2/3 innings, while walking 30 and giving up a mere 45 hits (a .176 opponent average). He tied Joba Chamberlain for 5th in the American League in appearances. He continued in the same role in 2011 and put up another solid season, although his won-loss record was only 2-9. That was despite a 3.33 ERA and only 45 hits allowed in 73 innings, against 74 strikeouts. He held opponents to a .179 average and again tied a New York Yankees reliever for 5th in the AL in games pitched, this time David Robertson. He just seemed to be unlucky in close games, in contrast to bullpen-mate Alfredo Aceves, who went 10-2 with a better ERA but quite similar rate stats overall.

Longtime Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon left the team as a free agent before the 2012 season. While it would have seemed natural for Bard to inherit the job, the new team brass of GM Ben Cherington and manager Bobby Valentine decided otherwise, opting to move Daniel to the starting rotation as a way of maximizing his value. The transition did not go very smoothly, as he lost his first two starts of the year and the bullpen struggled. He picked up a win in an unscheduled relief outing on April 23rd, but the team confirmed that plans were still to use him as a starter. He won his first game as a starter in his next start, on April 27th, then struggled to find his consistency over the next month. On June 3rd, he had a nightmarish game against the Toronto Blue Jays, during which he issued 6 walks and hit two opposing batters in 1 2/3 innings; he allowed only one hit, but it was a three-run homer by Jose Bautista. He was charged with his team's 5-1 loss, all of the runs being charged to him, bringing his record on the year to 5-6, 5.24 in 11 games, with more walks than strikeouts. Two days later, the Red Sox decided to option him to Triple A Pawtucket to allow him to work out his control issues. Used as a reliever, he went 3-2 in 31 games for Pawtucket with a 7.03 ERA. His control was still erratic, as he issued 29 walks in 32 innings. In spite of his struggles, he was called back to Boston on August 30th, with the plan being to have him return to his former set-up role. He pitched six more times that season, but all it did was raise his season's ERA to 6.22.

Bard was still struggling with his control in spring training in 2013, so the Red Sox decided to send him to Double A to relieve some of the pressure and allow him to work things out. But when they needed bullpen help in late April, they decided to call him up. His second outing against the Houston Astros on April 29th was truly dreadful, as he could not locate any pitches near the strike zone and left after walking both batters he faced. He quickly returned to Portland, but did not do any better. He was 0-1, 6.39 after 13 games, having issued 17 walks in 12 2/3 innings when the Sox decided to place him on the disabled list, hoping that perhaps some extended rest would help him find his old self, as there was nothing physically wrong with him, and this was just another puzzling case of the "yips". He stayed out until late August, when he was given a few rehabilitation outings in the lower minors, two with the GCL Red Sox and one with the Lowell Spinners. He walked 10 batters in 2 2/3 innings and on September 1st, he was designated for assignment.

Crossing through the desert

This time, there was something physically wrong with him, however. He was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition that compresses the nerves near his rib cage, and underwent surgery in January 2014. He signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers that season, but the results were disastrous. In four June appearances with the Class A Hickory Crawdads, he gave up 13 runs in two-thirds of an inning, for an ERA of 175.50, one of the highest ever in the history of organized baseball. In January 2015, he signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs, hoping to make a comeback. He did not pitch at all in 2015, and when he returned in 2016, he was once again completely wild. With the Palm Beach Cardinals of the St. Louis Cardinals organization that year, he walked 13 batters in 3 innings and put up an ERA of 24.00 in 8 games. The story was similar in 2017, split between the Springfield Cardinals and GCL Mets: he walked a whopping 24 batters in 9 1/3 innings, leading to 14 runs and an ERA of 13.50. This was the result of issues that were apparently as much mental as physical. Acknowledging the inevitable, he let word out the following winter that he was retiring from the game. He had tried all sorts of things, including reinventing himself as a submariner.

He found a second career as a player mentor with the Arizona Diamondbacks as he was able to coach young players about mental issues, because even though he was seemingly unable to overcome his own problems, his counsel was beneficial to others. It was extremely beneficial for him to be able to turn his struggles into a positive that could help others. It turned out to be a case of "You preach what you need to hear." With all his time spent on the field in a mentoring role, he began to feel better about throwing, as in informal games of catch with players he was working with, he was able to throw without any of the mental blocages that had stopped his career dead in its tracks. He then began trying to actually throw, first in his backyard. After talking things out with his family, he decided to take it to an actual mound and faced some professional hitters at a showcase baseball academy. As this went well, he graduated to a trial in front of scouts and after performing well again, he signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies in February 2020 to give it one more go. And then, to everyone's surprise - including his own - he pitched very well, particularly in intrasquad games following the resumption of training camp in July, and he made the team's opening day roster.

He made his first appearance since 2013 on July 25th and was the winner in a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers, pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings. It was his first win since May 29, 2012, when he was a starter. Even better, knowing how he had struggled, 20 of his 25 pitches in the outing were strikes. He ended having a very good year, going 4-2, 3.65 with 6 saves in 23 appearances, with 27 strikeouts and 10 walks in 24 2/3 innings and was named the winner of the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Bard had a rougher season for the Rockies in 2021, going 7-8, 5.21 in 67 games, but he still recorded 20 saves, his highest total yet. In 2022, he had an outstanding season as Colorado's closer, going 6-4, 1.79 in 57 games, with 34 saves for a last-place team. He received his first MVP votes that year, finishing 16th in the voting and struck out 69 batters in 60 1/3 innings. He was then selected for the United States national team (19 years since he had represented the US at the college level) that reached the finals of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In an unfortunate incident in the tournament, he broke the thumb of José Altuve with a pitch during the USA's quarter-finals victory over Venezuela after suddenly losing command of his pitches. He hit two batters (tying for the event lead) and walked four in 1 2/3 IP in the Classic and allowed eight runs, all earned. He gave up the most runs in the WBC that year, one ahead of Julio Urías, Mike Bolsenbroek and Xiang Wang. That seems to have brought back flashbacks of the days when he was unable to control his pitches, and he began the 2023 season on the injured list due to anxiety issues. He explained that he needed to take some time to settle down and regroup, and was grateful to the Rockies for showing understanding about his situation. He made his first appearance on April 19th and while he was no longer the Rockies' closer, he showed no after-effects from his anxiety issues, as after 19 games, his record stood at 2-0, 0.92. The second win came on June 12th in his first game back in Fenway Park since leaving the Red Sox a decade earlier.

Family

Daniel's younger brother is Luke Bard, a right-handed pitcher who reached the majors in 2018 after a long minor league apprenticeship, having been a supplemental first round selection in the 2012 amateur draft. Daniel's father, Paul Bard, played minor league ball in the 1980s in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles chains. His grandfather, Fran O'Brien, was head coach at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and College of the Holy Cross. His uncle, Kevin O'Brien, played minor league baseball. His cousin, John Andreoli, is an outfielder who appeared in games with the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles in 2018.

Sources: 2005-2009 Baseball Almanacs, Soxprospects.com

Notable Achievements

• 2020 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award
• 30 Saves Seasons: 1 (2022)

Further Reading

• David Adler: "Not only is Bard back, his stats are unreal", mlb.com, August 13, 2020. [1]
• Thomas Harding: "10 years later, Bard comes up big in return to Fenway", mlb.com, June 13, 2023. [2]
• Cydney Henderson (USA Today): "Colorado Rockies pitcher Daniel Bard opens season on injured list due to anxiety", Yahoo! News, March 31, 2023. [3]
• Matthew Kory: "Daniel Bard: A Cautionary Tale", Sports on Earth, June 30, 2013. [4]
• Jon Paul Morosi: "An MLB return 7 years after the yips? Yes: Helping other players helped former first-round pick Daniel Bard make the Rockies' roster", July 17, 2020. [5]

Related Sites

• Daniel Bard on mlb.com