CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When a pitcher loses the ability to throw strikes, stays away from major league competition for six years, then returns to perform competitively and successfully at age 35, that would seem to be the perfect definition of "comeback." So it was with Daniel Bard in 2020.
The Rockies pitcher was the runaway winner in the voting for NL Comeback Player of the Year, receiving 37 of the 85 votes cast, which was well more than twice as many as anyone else.
After pitching in two games for the Red Sox in 2013, Bard spent the next six years either bouncing around the minors or out of pro ball completely, thanks to control issues (aka the "yips").