Pitching for Pirates 'keeps getting cooler and cooler' for Mars grad David Bednar

David Bednar has the same routine each day the Pittsburgh Pirates have a home game.

The rookie relief pitcher parks his car in the players’ lot underneath the right field stands at PNC Park. He then walks across the field to the Pirates’ dugout on the third base side before taking the steps up to the home team’s clubhouse on the stadium’s lower level.

It might seem rather mundane. Not to Bednar, a Mars High School graduate.

“Every single day, it still brings a smile to my face, walking from the garage to the field to the dugout,” Bednar said earlier this week. “Every day I’ll just kind of look back at the skyline and just kind of smile like, ‘Man, this is awesome.’ Every day I have to pinch myself. It just keeps getting cooler and cooler.”

What makes it even cooler is that Bednar has been one of the few bright spots on a team that enters Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park on the brink of the ninth 100-loss season in franchise history.

The Pirates have a 59-99 record, but Bednar can’t be blamed for that.

Acquired from the Padres in an offseason trade that sent Joe Musgrove to San Diego, Bednar has a 3-1 record, three saves and a 2.11 ERA in 60 games. He has struck out 76 in 59 2/3 innings while walking 19 and allowing 38 hits for an outstanding 0.95 WHIP.

What has made Bednar’s season even more special is he has performed well despite the added distractions that can come when a major leaguer plays for his hometown team.

There are usually extra demands on players in Bednar’s situation, whether it’s friends and family wanting free tickets, frequent requests from the media or being stopped in public by fans.

Yet Bednar has handled the pressure with aplomb. Part of it is he is admittedly somewhat oblivious to being the hometown hero.

“Honestly, no,” Bednar said when asked if he has been spotted more as the season has gone on. “I’ve also been pretty lame. I haven’t really done much of anything.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton, though, has been very impressed by how the rookie has handled his rookie year off the field as much as on.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy, been around a guy, that grew up around an area that embraced playing in his town as much as he does,” Shelton said. “He loves every part of being from Pittsburgh. From the dudes from Mars with four IC Lights hanging out over the dugout, screaming at me to put him in in the second inning. He loves it. He loves being from here.

“He’s very prideful of it and I think that’s really cool. I think he’s embraced it. I think as we move forward, it’s just going to be an even better story.”

Bednar’s 2021 story has been special. He won the Steve Blass Award, which goes annually to the Pirates’ top pitcher and is voted on by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Bednar doesn’t know Blass well — Blass retired from the Pirates’ broadcast booth following the 2019 season — but understands his place in franchise history, including being the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1971 World Series.

“Honestly, when I saw that name attached to it, I was kind of humbled because I know what kind of career he had here and how unbelievable he was,” Bednar said. “And then also listening to him on broadcasts of Pirates games growing up. So yeah, definitely really cool to be a part of that and very thankful for it.”