Kernels pitcher Bard continues comeback

CEDAR RAPIDS - Luke Bard's goals for the remainder of the baseball season are about as simple and straightforward as they get.

'I want to stay healthy, and I want to throw the ball well,” the Cedar Rapids Kernels relief pitcher said. 'That's about as far as I've gotten so far.”

Bard threw the ninth inning of Wednesday night's 7-3 win over Wisconsin at Veterans Memorial Stadium, skirting some danger but generally looking pretty good. The 24-year-old right-hander is coming back after a year and a half off because of severe and lingering shoulder problems.

A first-round sandwich pick of the parent Minnesota Twins in 2012 (42nd overall), Bard had thrown just 19 1/3 professional innings before joining the Kernels from extended spring training last week. He has three games and four innings under his belt here.

'It feels unbelievable,” he said. 'When something is taken away from you for that long, you really learn to appreciate it. So I'm just grateful to be back and playing again.”

The Twins drafted Bard out of Georgia Tech and gave him a signing bonus of $1.227 million despite knowing he had a torn latissimus dorsi muscle. It was supposed to heal on its own, but discomfort in limited appearances during the 2012 and 2013 seasons told him it likely hadn't.

'Nothing just felt right. My first year and a half of pro ball my shoulder was bothering me,” Bard said. 'I didn't feel like myself. I finally just said ‘I can't pitch like this anymore.' I had an MRI that was clean.

'But when the doctor went in there (surgically), my lat was still pretty much torn ... my teres major, which is another muscle back there, was off the bone. So I had one muscle barely hanging on, one muscle off the bone. And my labrum was in bad shape. It was kind of a relief because I finally knew what was wrong.”

Bard didn't pitch at all in 2014 and is easing his way back into things. His fastball was consistently low to mid-90s Wednesday, he threw a slider and changeup.

He doesn't expect perfection right now.

'Obviously when you take 18 months off, in golf or anything, you're not going to come back and be at your absolute best,” he said. 'But I feel good, I feel like I can go out there and compete. I'm throwing three pitches, my arm feels strong, which is important coming back from surgery. I've been recovering well.”

The Kernels moved to 30-17 behind a 10-hit attack that featured at least one hit from everyone in the lineup. Max Murphy went 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs.

Starting pitcher Felix Jorge (3-2) got the victory by going the first six innings. Wisconsin dropped to a Midwest League-worst 13-34.

The teams play again Thursday night at 6:35. Former big league pitcher Lee Smith will appear and sign autographs from 5:15 to 6 and from 6:45 to 7:30.

Click on the 'Box” icon at the top of this take to view the official game boxscore.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com