Daniel Bard

Daniel Bard
File:Five more.jpg
Boston Red Sox – No. 51
Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
May 13, 2009, for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics (through 2009)
IP	49.1
Win-Loss	2-2
ERA	3.65
Strikeouts	63
Saves	1
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Boston Red Sox (2009–present)

Daniel Paul Bard commonly referred to as "The Heat",(born June 25, 1985) is a right-handed baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Bard's fastball has been reportedly clocked to have thrown as hard as 101 MPH (confirmed on July 30, 2009 against the Oakland Athletics), and consistently throws 98–99 MPH.

Collegiate career

At the midpoint of the 2004 season, Baseball America named Bard the top freshman pitcher in the U.S. and gave him Freshman All-America honors. For the entire season, Bard was named to Baseball America's All-Freshman second team and was named as Freshman All-America by Collegiate Baseball. He was Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Freshman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors. In 16 games pitched, Bard was 8–4 with a 3.88 ERA; his eight wins tied the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill freshman record.

2005

For the 2005 season, Bard was named preseason first-team All-America by Baseball America and was named preseason third-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball and by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Bard went 7–5 with a 4.22 ERA in 16 starts and was third in the ACC in opponents' batting average at .219. He was named to the Roger Clemens Award Watch List.

Bard was a second-team summer All-American selection in 2005 Cape Cod League after a successful summer with the Wareham Gatemen, where he led the league in innings pitched and strikeouts while finishing 3rd in ERA. Bard and fellow North Carolina left-hander Andrew Miller were rated the top two prospects in the Cape Cod League.

2006

Bard and Miller lead the UNC to the College World Series, but lost to Oregon State, two games to one. He finished his junior year with a 9–4 record and a 3.64 ERA in 17 starts. He earned ACC pitcher of the week honors twice during the 2006 season.

Pro career

On June 6, 2006, Bard was selected in the first round (28th overall) of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft by the Boston Red Sox. On September 4, Bard signed with the team. Bard admitted that he had enrolled in classes at UNC as a backup plan in case a deal with the Red Sox was not finalized in time. Bard had been previously selected in the 20th round with the 604th overall selection out of high school by the New York Yankees in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign.

2007

Drafted as a starting pitcher, Bard spent the 2007 season in the same role starting all 22 of his appearances in 2007 with the Greenville Drive and Lancaster Jethawks. Unfortunately for Bard, the results were disastrous: He posted a 7.05 ERA between the two levels, and walked 78 batters in 75⅓ innings pitched.

Because of the poor success starting, at the end of the 2007 season Bard was moved into the bullpen to pitch as a reliever. While pitching out of the bullpen in winter ball in Hawaii, Bard put up a 1.08 ERA in 16 appearances. While control was still an issue, there was still a large improvement.

2008

Remaining in the bullpen, Bard had a spectacular 2008 season splitting time between the Greenville Drive and Portland Sea Dogs. He posted a 1.51 ERA and had 107 strikeouts in 77⅔ innings of work, and was named the Boston Red Sox 2008 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, an award that has been given to current Red Sox Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz in recent years.

2009

Bard began the season at AAA Pawtucket. He faced 58 batters in 16 innings this season giving up six hits and striking out 29. Of those six hits, two were home runs.

On May 10, 2009, the Red Sox designated pitcher Javier López for assignment, and called up Bard from the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. On May 13, 2009, he made his major-league debut against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Bard made his debut at Fenway Park on May 20, against the Toronto Blue Jays in the 8th inning. He gave up two hits on the first two pitches thrown, eventually giving up a run. He pitched ⅔ of an inning being replaced by the left-hander Hideki Okajima after the second out, leaving two runners on base.

Bard recorded his first career save in the 13th inning of a 5-2 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies. Although he gave up a walk, and hit a batter with a pitch, Bard managed to strike out the side to clinch the save.

Bard recorded his first major league win on August 26, against the Chicago White Sox after pitching a scoreless inning and a third in the eight and ninth followed by a walk off home run by David Ortiz.

Bard was a post-season correspondent for ESPN.

Bard was also suspected of having a teenage boy from greenwich doing all of his work for nothing and people thought that this McAleer child was being a child prostitute to him

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Daniel Bard at soxprospects.com
• UNC profile of Bard