Veteran reliever Daniel Bard is ending his comeback bid and can retire, experiences WEEI’s Rob Bradford. The 40-year-old Bard signed a minor league contract with the Mariners earlier this summer time and had pitched nicely in a restricted look with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, permitting two runs on six hits and a stroll with 9 punchouts in 5 2/3 innings.
Initially a first-round choose by the Pink Sox again in 2006, Bard made his massive league debut in 2009 and shortly turned a star reliever in Boston. In his first three seasons, the righty pitched 197 innings of 2.88 ERA ball and piled up 79 holds and 5 saves. Alongside the best way, he fanned practically 27% of his opponents. That’d be a powerful mark even in at present’s recreation, however on the time, the league-average strikeout price sat round 18% (in comparison with this 12 months’s 21.9%). Bard ranked twenty first amongst all relievers in strikeout price over that three-year interval and, regardless of not debuting till mid-Could in ’09, tallied the third-most holds in MLB from ’09-’11.
In 2012, the Pink Sox tried shifting Bard into the rotation, hoping a few of that single-inning dominance would carry over to lengthier stretches. It didn’t pan out. Bard made ten begins and was hit onerous, yielding a 5.30 ERA in 54 1/3 innings and exhibiting some alarming command troubles. The lanky right-hander walked extra hitters (36) than he struck out (34) and plunked eight batters. He was moved again into the bullpen later within the season.
Bard’s command struggles had truly begun in September of 2011. They continued in 2012 throughout that shift to the rotation, and reached a tipping level the next season. Bard pitched only one main league inning in 2013, plus one other 15 1/3 frames within the minors — throughout which he walked one-third of the batters he confronted and threw 11 wild pitches. Bard would finally be taught that he’d additionally been pitching with an undiagnosed case of thoracic outlet syndrome — he underwent surgical procedure in 2014 — and he’s additionally been candid all through his profession about his ongoing battle with anxiousness.
A collection of minor league offers with the Rangers, Cubs, Pirates, Cardinals and Mets didn’t pan out, and by 2017 Bard had opted to name it a profession and transfer onto the following section of his baseball journey. He took a job with the D-backs, serving as a participant mentor/psychological expertise coach who labored with younger gamers all through the group. Bard held that place for a pair years however discovered that with a while off, his velocity, command and need to pitch all returned. He labored out for golf equipment forward of the 2020 season, signed a minor league cope with the Rockies and launched into one of many extra unbelievable comebacks in current reminiscence.
Bard was heading into his age-35 season and hadn’t pitched within the majors for seven years when he went to camp with the Rockies. He wound up not solely incomes a spot on the roster within the shortened 2020 season — he was named Nationwide League Comeback Participant of the 12 months. Bard pitched 24 2/3 innings with the Rockies that season and logged a 3.65 ERA with a 25.5% strikeout price, 9.4% stroll price, six saves and two holds. His fastball, which had sat 93-94 in 2012-13 whereas he was unknowingly pitching with thoracic outlet syndrome, averaged a hearty 97.3 mph.
Bard had a tricky 2021 season however was sensible in 2022 when he saved 34 video games and pitched to a 1.79 earned run common. The Rockies signed him to a two-year, $19MM extension that summer time fairly than ship him out when he would’ve been some of the common rental arms on the commerce market. That contract didn’t work out, as Bard struggled once more in 2023 and missed the 2024 season recovering from a pair of surgical procedures: one to restore a torn meniscus and one other to restore a torn flexor tendon. He’d hoped to make one last run within the majors, however he’ll now wrap up one of many extra attention-grabbing profession arcs this technology of baseball has seen.
All instructed, Bard pitched in elements of 5 seasons with the Pink Sox and 4 with the Rockies — plus minor league appearances with the Rangers, Cardinals and Mets. He pitched 457 1/3 massive league innings, saved 66 video games, tallied 91 holds and recorded a 3.74 ERA. Bard set down simply over 24% of the hitters he confronted on strikes over the course of his profession, and he earned greater than $31MM in wage, thanks largely to that late-career extension in Colorado.
Bard has already taken one non-playing job with the Diamondbacks. It stands to motive that loads of golf equipment would welcome somebody with Bard’s background to their group, be it in a training function, a participant improvement function or a baseball operations function — ought to he select to once more search for new alternatives to remain concerned within the recreation.
