Bard says 2020 stuff is comparable to his 2010 season with Red Sox
Daniel Bard is more than a feelgood, comeback story. The righthander has become an essential part of the Rockies’ bullpen.
Bard pitched a perfect ninth inning Monday night to close out a 3-2 victory and notch his second save this season. He ended the game by striking out Stephen Vogt on four pitches, setting him up with a 99.4 mph fastball and setting him down with a devilish 88.6 mph changeup.
Bard, as most of the baseball world knows by now, had not pitched in the majors since 2013 before hooking up with the Rockies this season. Struggles with anxiety and a severe case of the yips drove him out of baseball. Now he’s back, and believe it or not, at age 35 he says he might be a better pitcher now than he was 10 years ago. That’s saying something, especially considering that he posted a 1.93 ERA over 74 2/3 innings with Boston in 2010.
“I think stuff-wise I feel very similar,” Bard said before Tuesday night’s game against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. “The ‘velos’ are very similar, the movement is pretty similar, but I’m throwing strikes maybe at a higher rate than I did back then.
“I think the difference now is that I actually know a lot more about how I’m actually doing it. Whereas back then, I was very athletically gifted and young and just went out and threw. Basically, having to rebuild myself from scratch to get back, I had to understand myself.”
A breakdown of Bards’ pitches illustrates some minor differences between the 2010 Bard and the 2020 Bard.
In 2010, he threw 72.9% fastballs (averaging 98.3 mph), 20.7% sliders (98.6 mph) and 6.4% changeups (90.8).
With the Rockies, he’s thrown 53.5% fastballs (97.2 mph), 35.4% sliders (96.8) and 11.1% changeup (89.7 mph)
Bard has not been perfect with the Rockies, as his 4.15 ERA over 13 innings indicates. Saturday in Los Angeles he gave up a walk-off homer to the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger in a 4-3 loss. But Bard has struck out 15 and walked only one which is why he’s become a ninthinning option. Manager Bud Black has not officially named Bard the closer yet.
“I told Daniel, ‘I don’t know where you were at a few years back, but holy cow, man, it’s awesome!'” bullpen coach Darryl Scott said.
“To see the confidence level he’s throwing with and the ease with which he’s throwing is amazing.
“As far as his stuff right now, it’s a plus fastball, a plus two-seamer, a good changeup and slider. He’s got a good feel for the whole mix right now.”
Scott, 51, has witnessed many pitchers go through the yips or deal with anxiety issues during his career, but he sees no indication that Bard’s problems will resurface.
“Even from the early stages (of spring training), you didn’t see some of the patterns you have seen in the past with guys,” Scott said.
“You could see that Daniel’s confidence level was back. I have seen guys going, ‘Whoa, which side of the fence is this going to fall on?’ With him, I haven’t seen any teetering from one side to the other.”
Footnotes. Charlie Blackmon, who sat out Monday’s game because of a tight left quadriceps was back in the lineup Tuesday. … Blackmon hit cleanup and Nolan Arenado was moved to third in the order. Black explained that he shuffled the lineup a bit to try and jumpstart Colorado’s offense.