Daniel Bard pitched in relief for the Boston Red Sox. A first-year rookie in 2009, Bard turned in an impressive performance. The 24-year-old struck out 63 in 49 1/3 innings, 11.5 per nine. His walks were a bit higher than the Red Sox might like at 4.0 per nine innings, but it was actually an improvement over his minor league numbers, where he walked six per nine innings. Much of that came at the lower levels of the minors however. Bard is somewhat unusual as his K’s and BB’s improved as he rose through the Red Sox system. That’s probably why some are projecting him as a closer.
Daniel Bard gets his tongue into the action. Photo: Icon SMI
The idea would be that in two years, the Red Sox let Papelbon go via free agency and promote the more cost effective Bard to the closer role. If Daniel shows he can pitch consistently well at the major league level, the Red Sox might even score a couple of good prospects for Jonathan along the way. We’ll see. The Red Sox, with players like Lowell and Varitek, have shown a tendency to keep fan favorites longer than they should.
Bard will also need to show he can get out lefties. They punished him for a .379 OBP and a .487 slugging percentage in 2009, hitting four of the five home runs against him. For his career, Papelbon is actually better against lefties than righties.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:23 am | Pitchers, Players A to Z | Permalink | No Comments
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