The Associated Press

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Josh Bard is taking nothing for granted as the Cleveland Indians' starting catcher.

"I'm confident I can do the job, but I don't know if you should ever be comfortable in the big leagues," Bard said Thursday. "Comfortable means you feel like you deserve something. You get what you work for and being a big-leaguer means taking care of business all the time."

Bard has done that both behind the plate and at bat this spring. A first-inning RBI single Thursday against Toronto gave him seven hits in seven straight at bats over three games.

"That's just one of those things, like when I came up last year," Bard said.

Last August, the switch-hitter joined Hall of Famer Earl Averill as the only Indians to homer in each of their first two games.

Batting left-handed, he hit a game-winning homer in the ninth inning against Seattle in his first game, becoming the first major-leaguer in 31 years to hit a "walkoff" homer in his debut. Swinging right-handed, he homered off Jamie Moyer in his first time up the next day.

"I said then, 'Don't expect this every day,' but it's sure better than going 0-for-6," Bard said.

The Indians were impressed enough that they traded last year's starter, Einar Diaz, to Texas and gave the job to Bard, a 25-year-old acquired from Colorado in 2001. Bard batted .297 at Triple-A Buffalo last season to earn the call up, but his defense earned the starting role, according to manager Eric Wedge.

"Josh does everything you want in a receiver as far as calling a game, handling pitchers or blocking balls in the dirt," said Wedge, a former catcher. "We have a lot of young pitchers and we want Josh working with them. He's got that knack of knowing when to get a pitcher pumped or when to get him relaxed."

C.C. Sabathia, who has emerged as the staff ace at age 22, said he wants Bard as his batterymate.

"Josh is great back there," Sabathia said. "He can set up a hitter for a certain pitch by watching the previous swing. He's real smart.

"If I'm rushing my delivery, he comes out and tells me. Sometimes he knows me better than I do. There's been times when he puts down the sign and I've already got that grip on the ball. What a great feeling."

Bard said he particularly enjoys the intellectual aspect of catching.

"I just love being back there," he said. "If you want to be a leader, it's pretty tough to do from right field. As a catcher, you're involved in every pitch and don't have to go 3-for-3 to be a contributing."

Bard said he understands the importance of offense, too, and admits getting a bit annoyed when his hitting is overlooked.

"When you get something in your game that people think you do well, they seem to try and find something on the other side you don't do well," he said. "But I think I swing the bat well overall.

"I've always had to work on it, especially switch-hitting. My brother made me do it when I was a kid and it was tough. It still is. It's a lot of work."

Bard said his short time in the majors last year reaffirmed his life-long philosophy to work hard.

"You see some of the greatest players work harder than you could imagine, guys like Ellis Burks, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel," he said. "People say Omar has the greatest hands in the world and he probably does, but he works his tail off every day to get better."

Bard said he's done that ever since he became a catcher the first time he played the game.

"It's pretty simple," he said. "I'm not a good enough athlete to play anywhere else."