Pirates A to Z: David Bednar started season as hometown hero, finished as future closer

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z: An alphabetical player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, from outfielder Anthony Alford to pitcher Miguel Yajure.

Player: David Bednar

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Bats: Left

Age: 27

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 245 pounds

2021 MLB statistics: Bednar was 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA, 0.973 WHIP and three saves in 60 2/3 innings over 61 appearances.

Contract: Not yet eligible for arbitration.

Acquired: From San Diego in a three-team trade that sent Joe Musgrove to the Padres in January 2021.

This past season: Bednar started the season as the feel-good story, the Mars alum who returned to pitch for his hometown Pirates and used a strong spring training to make the Opening Day roster.

He finished it as their future closer.

His rise from the fringe of the 26-man roster to being voted winner of the Steve Blass Award as the team’s top pitcher by members of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America had Bendar pinching himself at season’s end.

“Honestly, for me, coming into camp, my main focus was just trying to make the team, then stick around the whole year,” Bednar said. “Just hope to start to establish myself as a big leaguer. To be able to pitch in some bigger situations, I think that’s just icing on the cake.

“Coming into it, I just wanted to get outs. Whatever happened happened. Obviously as a relief pitcher, everybody wants to throw in those big spots. For them to have the trust in me to throw me out there in those, definitely builds my confidence even more.”

And Bednar embraced his status as newfound hometown hero, warming up to the Steelers anthem “Renegade” while speaking fluent Pittsburghese. After the pandemic-shortened 2020 season left a bad taste in his mouth, Bednar was eager to wash it away with an I.C. Light.

Renegade hits different in-person… it also means the hometown kid David Bednar is coming on to pitch. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/5sm2gjlfq5

— Bucs Dugout (@BucsDugout) August 15, 2021

“He loves it. He loves being from here. He’s very prideful of it I think that’s really cool,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I think as we move forward, it’s just going to be an even better story. For a guy to pick Renegade as his walk out song, I love the fact that he embraces it, and he wears it with pride.”

Bednar gained Shelton’s trust to move from middle relief to a high-leverage role and finish 24 of his 61 appearances by averaging 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings and ranking in the 97th percentile in xwOBA (.249) and xERA (2.57) and 94th in strikeout rate (32.5%). Bednar earned his first career save at the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 21, and finished with three saves despite a short stint on the injured list.

“That’s kind of the goal I had: I just wanted to help the team win at any cost, just go out there and throw zeroes,” Bednar said. “I think that carried throughout the year, just wanting to be that guy that Shelty can call on and know what he’s going to get every single time.”

David Bednar, Filthy Curveballs. ????

And sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/S2G3AIEwop

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 6, 2021

The future: The biggest development for Bednar wasn’t his role but perhaps the emergence of the curveball as his out pitch.

While Bednar relied heavily on his four-seam fastball by throwing it on 55.8% of his pitches, per Statcast, he turned to the curveball (23.6%) more often than his splitter (20.7%). The results were impressive: Hitters batted .128 with a 46.8% whiff rate against the curve.

“I’ve definitely got a lot more confidence in it,” Bednar said. “I’ve started to be a little more aggressive with it. With that, I’ve gained some feel and some more confidence with it. I already felt like I could throw it at anytime in the count. Now, kind of even more so. I just have a little more confidence in it.”

Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin said that when Bednar’s third pitch became his second-best offering “that was a big difference-maker for him” in terms of tunneling pitches.

“That high-velocity fastball to the top of the zone combined with that curveball coming off it, I think that was a big plus for him — not that the split’s not going to be in play,” Marin said. “It definitely is going to continue, and he’s going to continue to get more consistency with that, but I think the emergence of his curveball was the biggest factor with him.”

Shelton cited the emergence of the curveball as a reason Bednar split the closer’s role with Chris Stratton after the Pirates traded Richard Rodriguez to the Atlanta Braves at the deadline in late July.

“I think, as we’ve talked about the ninth inning and we’ve talked about leverage, he’s pitched in probably his highest of leverage situations of just about anybody we’ve had, with the exception of maybe Strat,” Shelton said. “The thing that really stands out to me with David this year is the development of the breaking ball. This is a guy that came into spring training fastball-split, and now we’re seeing a breaking ball that plays above average. And we talk about growth, we talk about a guy taking an opportunity moving to the back end, moving to a leverage situation, all while developing a pitch along the way, that’s pretty impressive.”