SAN DIEGO — Rockies closer Daniel Bard entered spring training out of sync.

In a normal year, he may have been able to work things out. But he went to the World Baseball Classic in March, where, on an international stage, he had a bad performance and even hit José Altuve, injuring one of the game’s top players.

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Small problems started to become not-so-small for Brad. His pitching continued to go south — his velocity averaging only 94 mph when he usually easily reaches 100 — and he just didn’t feel like himself on or off the mound.

It took Bard a few weeks to figure out what was happening to him.

He wasn’t OK.

And that’s OK.

Sometimes he feels fine and normal, he said. Other times he doesn’t. Continuing to plow through it, though, wasn’t going to make it better. So he went to the Rockies on the last day of spring training, and they had an open and honest discussion about how he was doing. The team, understanding and recognizing what he was going through, put him on the injured list on Thursday with anxiety.

“It’s a hard thing to admit. But I’ve been through this before,” Bard said at Petco Park Thursday before Opening Day. “I have enough going on outside the game to realize what’s important. … I’m extremely grateful to be in an organization that understands these things and is accepting.”

Bard could have hidden it. All players have ailments, and it would have been easy enough to come up with another reason why he was sidelined. But he’s decided to be up front, in hopes it helps both himself and others. Mental health doesn’t have to be talked about in hush tones or treated as a secret. He’s not the only player in the dugout to go through this, so the more people, he said, that can admit it the better.

“Sometimes you just need a minute,” Bard said. “You need some time, a little help.”

Bard has already overcome similar things in his career.

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From 2009 to 2011, Bard was considered one of the best young pitchers in baseball. Then his career derailed, nothing he tried could get it back on track. He was one of the key reasons Boston failed to make the playoffs in 2011 as both Bard and the Red Sox collapsed in the last month of the season.

Simply put, he had the yips.

For the next six years, Bard tried to find his way back, but nothing seemed to work. He retired in 2017, or so he thought.

In 2020, after working as a player mentor in the Diamondbacks organization, Bard began to realize he might just have more left in the tank. In February 2020, Bard threw for scouts at a high school field. He remembers laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing was — here he was, 34 years old, trying to make a comeback to the major leagues after seven years.

His stuff was still legit, and the Rockies gave him a chance. At the start of the pandemic-delayed season, Bard wore a jersey with his number taped to the back. By the end, he was the National League Comeback Player of the Year.

He’s only gone up from there. The Rockies signed him to a two-year, $19 million extension midway through the 2022 season, and he finished the year with a 1.79 ERA, making him one of the best closers in the game.

There have been ups and down over the past three years, Bard said, and this is just another dip.

“No one chooses that type of path,” Bard said. “Once you go through it and come out the other side better for it you see that it’s not always easy, but an easy life is pretty boring.”

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Jake Bird has been recalled to replace Bard on the active roster. Dinelson Lamet, Pierce Johnson and Justin Lawrence are expected to share closing duties until Bard returns.

Bard will stay with the team and on his normal schedule. He’s also in the process of getting help outside of the organization.

“This is probably the best thing to do,” manager Bud Black said. “Take a step back. Re-group in a lot of different ways and see where we are in a couple weeks.”