JUPITER—It’s for the pure love of the game, it’s that, as Daniel Bard says, “I still know there’s something.” Something of what in 2010 might have been the best setup man in baseball, 98 MPH, a 1.93 earned run average, 76 strikeouts in 74 2/3 innings.
Before it all unraveled in Sept., 2011, when his 11 appearance, 11 innings, 14 run, five lost leads were arguably the largest factor in the collapse that sent Theo Epstein and Terry Francona on a collision course for the seventh game of the 2016 world series, he was great. Ever thoughtful, intelligent, gracious, the son of a Tufts catcher Tommy Lasorda saw with the Dodgers and labelled his arm “the best of any catcher I ever saw” and grandson of a legendary New England coach at M.I.T., Holy Cross and the Cape.
Thursday, he was working out on the back fields of the Cardinal complex, doing what he loves. What is remarkable about Daniel seven weeks from his 32d birthday is that for all he has gone through from Boston to Pawtucket to Lowell and stints on back fields with the Rangers, Cubs, Pirates and now the Cardinals is that this man who could go into the private sector and be successful at whatever he chose is still willing to walk out there and face frustration and the humiliation of “The Thing.”
Most of us could never imagine being willing to endure such frustration and, at times, humiliation. “I don’t know if there are more than just a few people in the world who could be that strong,” says John Farrell, who has known Daniel since he lived with the Bard family in Charlotte in the twilight of his career. “I can’t say I could do it, “ says Andrew Miller, his roommate and pitching mate at the University of North Carolina. “It’s a tribute to how strong Daniel really is,” says current UNC pitching coach Rob Woodard, a third member of that UNC team that went to the College World Series final game in 2006, and actually won more games than Miller, Bard or anyone else in the program history.
The Cardinals last spring signed Bard to a two year deal which his agent Mike Milchin thought would give the organization time to see if they could ground him. His initial numbers with Palm Beach in the Florida State League (3 3 8 9 13 1) were not successful, but Director of Player Development Gary LaRocque and his minor league pitching staff decided to have him try a lower arm slot.
“In some ways, it’s a lot like what Andrew did—simply everything,” says Bard. In 2012, when struggling with his delivery, Miller, with the help of pitching coach Bob McClure, tried a delivery that was part slidestep, part of fire-the-ball-at-the-backyard wall step and fire.” Which, as we saw in October, helped him develop into one of the best relievers in the game.
Bard now just loads and fires from his low ¾ slot. On this video, shot by Woodard, one can see him registering 96 on the radar gun.
The command has returned, especially after LaRocque told him to emphasize the fastball, keep developing a new changeup that LaRocque says “is really good,” and not sorry about the slider. That pitch from that arm slot hasn’t worked well, so Bard went across the minor league complex and talked to Brad Ziegler, who told him he often cannot throw an effective slider down where he throws.
Right now, LaRocque thinks Bard will open the season in double-A. “His stuff can play in the big leagues,” he says. “We’ll see.”
Right now, Bard feels comfortable in the 92-94 MPH range, then dialing 96 when he needs it. His last outing was a clean inning with 13 pitches, 12 fastballs. He enthuses over his youngest brother Luke’s recovery from serious hip surgery to regain his status as a prospect in the Twins organization.
Be he Bobby Sprowl, Mark Wohlers or anyone else who lost the power of throwing a baseball the way he did when he was ten, this has been a disease that has always caused some of us to turn away, because of its psychological fracture. I always wished Albert Camus had been around to study and write about it, because the frozen time has elements of “l’Enrtanger” and “Dostoyevski’s Demons.”
Rick Ankiel came back from his journey, hit 76 home runs as a star defensive outfielder and team leader. Bard knows that his childhood friends like the Farrell brothers and his college sidekicks like Miller and Woodard admire and respect that he is willing to endure the unimaginable to do what all of them love to do.
Play baseball, walk up that mound in Busch Stadium and locker in the same clubhouse as Adam Wainwright.
