Peter Gammons on a Comeback in Progress for Daniel Bard

Hopes For

Peter Gammons: The Comeback Everyone Hopes For

March 9, 2015 by Peter Gammons 1 Comment

MESA, Arizona—The late and perhaps best baseball psychologist Harvey Dorfman used to worry that once a pitcher—or even a position player—got The Thing he might never come back. Steve Blass, of course, had the curse named after him, because he was a 1971 World Series hero and because he never backed down from it, admitting to Roger Angell “If we could start over at 3-and-2, I’d still be pitching.”
Rick Ankiel, one of the best young pitchers of the last 20 years, got it on national television in the playoffs. We’ll never know if he could have made it back as a pitcher because he got hurt, but he made an astounding comeback as an everyday player as an outfielder, became a team leader with the Royals and Nationals and now is working with young Nats players, testament to who and what he is.
So when Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio and advisor Ted Lilly went to watch Daniel Bard throw a simulated game, they didn’t know what to expect. The slide that began in September, 2011, continued with an unfortunate attempt to start in 2012 and resulted in tries and misses with the Red Sox, Cubs and Rangers the last two seasons that left Bard stranded in another land. As Bard pitched, there was another pitching coach watching. Mike Cather. When Bard struggled in his first full professional season with 96 walks and 62 strikeouts in 91 2/3s innings in the minors, Cather went to the Hawaiian League as Bard righted himself, and by 2009 was one of the best power setup relievers in the game,
“I’ve come back before, and Mike Cather was a big help to me,” said Bard Sunday. “We’re on the same page when it comes to talking pitching.”
When the session was over, Bosio and Lilly were very enthused.  “He threw strikes, he was 94 to 96 with a great slider. I think it was 28 pitches and 24 strikes.”
“This is the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Bard. “In a lot of ways. I feel good about going out there and doing what I love to do.”
It takes a lot to try again. The Red Sox started him off in the minors in 2013. 19 games. 15 2/3 innings. 36 walks, 9 strikeouts, 15 wild pitches. The Cubs looked at him. And at the end of the season, noticing that he had problems feeling baseballs, he had Thorasic Outlet Syndrome Surgery performed by the same Dallas doctor that operated on Josh Beckett.
But Bard may have rushed things trying to come back too soon. Then in extended spring work, the Rangers tried to have him find his natural throwing motion by working out at shortstop, a concept John Farrell had contemplated with Boston. He got a lot of work at shortstop, and it was suggested he try taking his low ¾’s armswing to the mound. Four games totaled two outs, 13 runs, nine walks, one strikeout, seven wild pitches, and he never complained when the Rangers decided to let him go home.
But when he took time off, rested and started throwing again without the suffocating anxiety of show-and-tell, without concerns about mechanics, Bard says “it started to feel natural again. Good.” Like he was back in the college world series, or rolling up a 133-52 strikeout-walk ratio in 124 innings in 2009-2010, or the night at Fenway he and Neftali Feliz were matching 98s, 99s, 100s.
Daniel Bard is 29 now, and knows it is a long way back. In many ways, it may be a good thing that there’s nothing left to lose, but he should know the way people felt about a sim game on a lower field. From Cather to Theo Epstein to Jed Hoyer to the news filtering back to Ben Cherington, the news was greeted with hope and optimism because he is a person for whom everyone who has ever known roots, and cares.