The Bard-knock life

Sox prospect has moved past last summer’s struggles

 Last summer was a necessary, but miserable, time for Red Sox prospect Daniel Bard.

The 23-year-old and former first-round pick of the Sox (28th overall in 2006) languished as a starting pitcher at the Single-A level for the balance of his first professional season. Bard had little control over his high-90s fastball, curveball and changeup, and he struggled on the mound for the first time in his career.

“A lot of guys might have gone out there and wanted to kill themselves,” Bard said with a laugh about the seemingly distant struggles of last season. “It was as frustrating as baseball has ever been for me, but I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. There were glimpses of success that I was still feeling and really my strong faith helped.”

Bard, who the Sox had no intentions of dealing last month despite trade rumors that had him sent to Atlanta for lefty reliever Will Ohman, had his faith rewarded with a tremendous bounce-back campaign this season.

The big righty moved to the bullpen while pitching for the Hawaiian Winter League and flourished as a hard-throwing strikeout artist.

The troublesome walks disappeared, the ERA dropped and Bard’s confidence was on the rise.

Bard rocketed through Single-A Greenville this summer with something to prove, and he did just that by striking out 43 batters in 28 innings to go along with a 0.64 ERA. He’s followed that up with an impressive 2.18 ERA in 43 1/3 relief innings at Double-A Portland over the last two months. The progress has Bard ready for a call-up to Triple-A Pawtucket and a spot on Boston’s radar screen next season.

“It would be hard to ignore the strides that Daniel has made over the last season, and we would never want to,” Sox Director of Player Development Mike Hazen said. “There aren’t a lot of arms out there that can potentially throw 100 mph and also bring a hammer curveball to the table.

“The stuff still isn’t pinpoint command-wise, but there’s always going to be a little bit more margin for error for a kid like him because his stuff is so good.”