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Friday, March 31, 2023
Colorado Rockies closer Daniel Bard will open the season on the injured list because of anxiety.
“From my experience, knowing myself, I think just taking a step back, taking time to work through things, get it right, is the best approach,” Bard told reporters Thursday, according to MLB.com.
The 37-year-old Bard was a member of Team USA at the just-completed World Baseball Classic, but control issues in a game against Venezuela included an inside pitch to Jose Altuve that broke the hand of the Houston Astros second baseman.
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1. The Duke Posted: March 31, 2023 at 06:38 PM (#6122070)I think Bard is a neat story -- one time high-flying prospect who didn't pan out but then somehow resurrected his career and amazingly became a late innings force late in his career.... but - 1)all respect and love to mental health maintenance, but "anxiety" and "closer" are like water and oil, and 2)you gotta throw strikes
I think it's interesting that 2) actually seems to take several flavors... Bard seems to be the Blass/Ankiel/etc case - just completely loses command. But - I remember when Carlos Marmol went to ####. He wasn't - initially at least - throwing sliders to the backstop. He just couldn't hit his spots, batters started laying off, and then the problem compounded (and he *did* start throwing sliders to the backstop).
I suppose it seems to me like there are two flavors of... Blassiansim... Either something goes haywire and you cannot command your pitches on any given sequence to save your life vs. a bit of snap goes away and your attempts to compensate just compound and it gets worse and worse until you're done.
he already gave us an amazing comeback story. he sure as hell doesn't owe us another one - but of course I'd be intrigued to see it play out.
I wouldn't say he was a prospect that didn't pan out. He was a phenomenal set-up man with nearly 80 Holds his first three seasons with a 2.88 ERA. The issue didn't arise until they tried to move him to the rotation in 2012. That's when his BB/9 was higher than his K/9.
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