Colorado Rockies: Daniel Bard talks about going from a coach back to a player

Colorado Rockies reliever Daniel Bard was on The Jim Rome Show on Friday and he spoke about the transition he has made in the last few months.

Colorado Rockies reliever Daniel Bard had a whirlwind of year professionally as he decided to make a big change.

Entering the 2019-2020 offseason, Daniel Bard was going to be starting his third season as being a player mentor for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He became a mentor and a mental skills coach with them after he announced his retirement from baseball in the 2017-18 offseason after numerous failed attempts to return to baseball due to injuries.

On Friday, Bard was a guest on The Jim Rome Show on the CBS Sports Network and, among other things, he described his former job description with the D’Backs.

Bard said that he had a lot of things that he would try to help with for players with including on-the-field anxieties and off-the-field things, like relationship advice or advice with kids but with “the serious stuff” about mental health, he would refer them to someone with more training.

"“A lot of the stuff was like being a big brother to a lot of those minor league guys … and lending an ear to them…” Bard told Rome."

Through his time as a mental skills coach, Bard said that he regained his love for the game back and he thinks that he made some lifelong friends on the coaching staff and amongst the players.

While he was in that position, he would play catch and shag batting practice “as much as I could” with some players. During conversations that Bard had with players while playing catch, he told some of those players that he would still like to play on the field and not be in an office.