By Josh Maurer & Will Flemming

“The pitcher they saw the last three years isn’t the guy I’ve been for most of this year.”

Those were some of the first words spoken by Red Sox starter Daniel Bard outside the PawSox clubhouse in his media session at McCoy Stadium.

“I tried to be respectful about [the Red Sox] decision, and once I got the anger out of the way, and disappointment, [I] just have to make the best out of the situation.”

Bard will start tonight for the PawSox against Indianapolis and is scheduled to pitch only one inning.

As described by the right-hander, the hope is to go an inning and feel “locked in.” He will then start again two or three days later and build on the presumed success of his previous start.

“If it still feels good, then we stretch it out from there. It allows us to say ‘OK, that was it,’ and move forward,” he said.

Bard has factored into the decision in each of his 11 outings this year for Boston. He’s 5–6, 5.24 ERA with 37 walks, 34 strikeouts, and eight hit batters over 55.0 innings. (Kelly O’Connor)

Bard’s mission in Pawtucket is straightforward: try to recapture the mechanics that previously made him so successful.

“I don’t think we needed to change as much as we thought we did,” Bard explained. “We probably did a little too much. You can’t think and pitch at the same time, and I think that’s the key.”

In a bullpen session Wednesday afternoon, the Sox starter believes he may have already adjusted a subtle, yet critical, issue in his mechanics.

“It’s pretty simple, it’s just landing on a little stiffer front side,” Bard described. “I’ve been throwing on a really soft front side all year, and we just kind of noticed that. From the angle behind the pitcher, which is how generally how every pitch is seen on TV, you don’t see that.”

The Red Sox found tape from a side angle of Bard’s outings from the last two or three years and compared them to his starts this year.

“It’s a pretty noticable difference,” Bard said. “[I] carried that into my side session [Wednesday] and mechanically that’s the only thing I thought about, trying to land on that hard front leg.”

The former 28th overall pick in the 2006 Draft, Bard made just 11 appearances out of the Pawtucket bullpen in 2009 before making his Red Sox debut on May 13 in Anaheim. He totaled five walks and 29 strikeouts over 16.0 innings in the International League that year. (Kelly O’Connor)

Even though it was only a bullpen session, it was a major development for the right-hander.

“I feel like that’s a big step in the right direction. To me it felt pretty special, felt like my old self,” he said. “Felt like the velocity was up, the command was noticably better, and it was easy. I wasn’t working to make the ball do what I wanted it to do. It felt very repeatable.”

This adjustment has simplified things for Bard, which, as he mentioned, has been a clear issue this year.

“It’s a matter of finding a delivery that you’re confortable with, confident in, and something that I don’t have to think about on the mound. I’ve literally been out there trying to keep in check, or correct, two or three things in my delivery, while trying to get Big League hitters out. That’s pretty tough to do.”

Bard said he’s been given no indication by the Red Sox what his future role with the club will be, but made it clear that he’s not ready to give up on being a starter.

“If I had been pitching what I thought was my best the last two months in the starting role, putting up the same numbers, I’d probably say ‘let’s can it.’ But I know I haven’t pitched as well as I’m capable of.”

“This isn’t going to take long for me to figure out,” he said. “Once it clicks, it clicks.”

-AG

@aaronmgoldsmith

agoldsmith@pawsox.com