Do me a favor and watch the video below from Bard’s 32nd save of the season in the final game of the Rockies’ Chicago road trip. In particular, focus on the first two pitches. Both of them are strikeouts looking on sliders over the outside corner.
Did you notice anything different? You probably did. Both pitches were classified as sliders, but one was a 84 MPH sweeper and the other was a sharper, almost cutter-ish 90 MPH pitch. Let’s talk about Daniel Bard’s incredible 2022 season, his slider, how he’s manipulating it, and why that is and likely will be a significant part of his success -both now and moving forward.