Daniel Bard looking for consistency with Sea Dogs
What happened next was not what the Red Sox want to see. What happened next is why Daniel Bard is down in Double A ball.
He walked the first batter.
The runner advanced to second on a wild pitch before he struck out the hitter.
He threw another wild pitch and ended up walking his final hitter in four pitches.
He was pulled from the game. This was a grand total of 15 pitches, only 4 were strikes.
Since being optioned to Portland Daniel Bard has had two outings with 33 pitches, only 13 were strikes. Including his last outing with the Red Sox he has walked 5 of the last 10 batters faced. It appears that the transition to a starting pitcher, with the modifications to his mechanics, is very much a work in progress.
It is a shame to see that he has to take such a giant step backwards to migrate from relief to starting games. If you look at his career stats he has not had a good season since 2011, with at least 70 game appearances as a reliever. In 2012 he only made 10 starts and this year his counter might be stuck at 2.
Post a comment or hit me up on twitter @ericschabell with your thoughts.
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