The frustration was mounting. The pain was lingering.
Baseball was supposed to be Tony Bullard’s escape from grief. But baseball wasn’t going very well.
A shoulder injury suffered about a week before the start of the season limited his playing time and messed up his mechanics. Arizona’s veteran third baseman — the hottest hitter down the stretch on a 2021 team full of elite offensive players — was batting .164 in mid-April. He had 11 hits — and 23 strikeouts — in 67 at-bats.
But Bullard kept plugging away. He kept working. Opting out was never an option.
“I always want to just keep going no matter what,” Bullard said, “because I know that’s what my father would want me to do.”
Kim Bullard passed away on Jan. 22. He was 64 years old.
Tony Bullard has a big family back home in Riverside, California, many of whom will be in attendance when Arizona visits USC this weekend. He could lean on them.
He also had the unwavering support of his baseball family, in particular the coaching staff and his roommates: Mac Bingham, Tyler Casagrande and Blake Paugh.
“It helps out a lot just knowing that I have all these guys who have my back no matter what I’m going through,” Bullard said. “That’s all I could really ask for from them.”
Bullard’s father died about four weeks before the start of the season. Baseball would bring a welcome distraction.
Bullard
Then, in an intrasquad scrimmage on the Sunday before the Feb. 18 opener, Bullard dove for a ball and landed on his right shoulder. He didn’t think much of it at first.
“So I just kept playing,” he said. “And then the next day it was really bad.”
Bullard had suffered a capsule injury. He would miss the first 10 games of the season. He could be around the team, but he couldn’t play. It’s not the same.
Bullard also missed his dad. He said the two had a “really good” relationship, even though his dad was “very hard” on Tony when he was growing up. He came to realize that Kim just wanted Tony to be the best version of himself.
“I’ve never been around a player that’s had to endure so many issues in one year in a short time,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “We try to talk to him as a staff and stay close to him. But there’s things that get to him. And the injury was just the topper for him because baseball was his outlet, and now he couldn’t get out there.”
When he debuted on March 5, Bullard had to serve as the Wildcats’ designated hitter. Even then, his swing wasn’t right.
Bullard still felt pain in his shoulder, and he had missed countless rounds of batting practice. The fourth-year junior bore little resemblance to the hitter who broke out late last spring, slugging six home runs in a six-game span from May 28-June 11.
If anyone could relate to Bullard’s struggles at the plate, it was Bingham. Bingham missed all of fall practice because of a shoulder injury. He was hitting .196 through March 6 with a boatload of strikeouts. He since has put together a 33-game on-base streak.
Bingham advised Bullard to be vigilant with his rehab. Bullard comes to the ballpark 1½-2 hours early “just to make sure my shoulder’s ready for the day.”
He made his first start of the season at third base on March 29. He had to alter his throwing motion to get back on the field. The way Bullard saw it, it beat the alternative.
He hit his first two home runs of the season on April 5 at Arizona State, but that proved to be something of a false positive. Bullard’s timing and pitch recognition still weren’t where they needed to be. Only time would solve those issues.
Bullard’s balance and feel came back in a two-game series at Creighton April 18-19. He went 3 for 8 with one home run and nary a strikeout.
In his past 10 games, Bullard is hitting .306 (11 of 36) with two homers, six RBIs, nine runs, four walks and four strikeouts. He went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a run in Tuesday’s loss against Grand Canyon.
Afterward, teammate Daniel Susac noted that Bullard “had some great at-bats. Even the at-bat he got out on was a good at-bat (eight pitches, including four foul balls, on a flyout to center). Maybe we get another ‘Playoff Tony’ push again. ... When the times get the biggest, so does he.”
Bullard liked the sound of that. “Playoff Tony” made him smile. It was a moment of lightness during a time that’s been so heavy.
“It’s sweet,” Bullard said. “I just want to win some games, and hopefully we can make a good playoff run like we did last year.”
Postseason projections
Baseball America and D1Baseball.com have Arizona (32-15, 13-8 Pac-12) as a No. 2 seed in their latest projections for the NCAA Tournament.
Baseball America places the Wildcats in the Stillwater Regional hosted by No. 7 overall seed Oklahoma State. The other teams in that regional: Southeast Missouri State and Army.
D1Baseball has Arizona going to Louisville, where the host Cardinals would be the No. 12 overall seed. They’d be joined by East Carolina and Ball State.
Both outlets have Oregon State as the No. 2 overall seed behind Tennessee. BA has Stanford as the No. 13 seed; D1 places Oregon in that slot. Both have a fifth Pac-12 school, UCLA, making it as an at-large team.
The winner of the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament (May 25-29 in Scottsdale) will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The field will be announced May 30.
Inside pitch
UA shortstop Nik McClaughry might be the favorite for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. McClaughry leads the league with 149 assists. He has made only five errors. Said Bullard, who plays alongside him: “Honestly, I think he’s the best defender in the country without a doubt.”
Hale on his team battling back from a 7-3 deficit vs. GCU: “They know these last 10 games are extremely important. We’re not in any situation to just mail games in.”
Susac is ranked 12th on Keith Law‘s MLB draft “Big Board” for The Athletic, published Thursday. Law ranks Susac’s former teammate, Jacob Berry, 23rd. Berry transferred to LSU in the offseason, and is hitting .377 with 15 homers for the Tigers.
Susac leads the Pac-12 in hits (75) and total bases (121). He’s second in batting average (.368) behind teammate Tanner O’Tremba (.377). O’Tremba ranks third in RBIs (46) and on-base percentage (.474). Susac is fourth in RBIs (45). Teammate Chase Davis is fifth (43).
Since winning two of three vs. UCLA March 11-13, USC has gone 10-17. The Trojans (22-20, 6-15) haven’t won a Pac-12 series since.
USC has drawn the fewest walks (137) in the Pac-12. The Trojans have been caught stealing 16 times, the most of any conference club.
Right-hander TJ Nichols (5-2, 4.41 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday’s opener for Arizona. He will face righty Jaden Agassi (2-1, 4.34). Agassi is the son of former tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
