2-14-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Pitchers and catchers reported this week and while there are a number of young arms catching looks down in Bradenton, another one enters this spring with a lot to prove as David Bednar hopes to overcome the issues that plagued his underwhelming 2024 after a stretch where he was one of the best relievers in MLB.
But, after pitching to a 5.77 ERA over 56.2 innings with 7 blown saves on the year, can Bednar bounce-back to his All Star form?
Bednar was one of the most dominant relievers in baseball from 2021 through 2023. Among relief pitchers with at least 150 innings pitched over that span, the Renegade ranked 3rd in ERA (2.25), 4th in FIP (2.56), 8th in WHIP (1.06) and 10th in K% (31.2%) and netting two All Star selections in that span.
So, what happened?
It seems that there are two BIG reasons that led to David’s struggles in 2024. The first is a shortened Spring Training due to both a right lat injury and a left oblique strain, which resulted in him pitching just 2 innings in two appearances.
Despite the abbreviated spring, the team elected not to start his season on the Injured List and Bednar blew saves in 3 of his first 5 appearances as he struggled to shake off rust and get himself ready for a major league season and leading to a very meme-worthy quote by Rowdy Tellez.
After struggling for a few more weeks, Bednar appeared to turn a corner in May as he posted a 1.77 ERA over 20.1 innings pitched from May 4th through June 19th before landing on the IL due to the left oblique strain which hampered his spring.
Bednar returned to the team on July 12th but he wasn’t sharp or effective, posting nine consecutive games with runners reaching base and allowing earned runs in 7 of those outings.
This brings us to the other likely reason for Bednar’s struggles last year: He was tipping pitches.
If you haven’t already checked it out, former closer Trevor May broke this news late last season on his YouTube, and the video seems pretty clear that hitters were seeing this too.
Over his final 3 months of the season, Bednar posted a 6.49 ERA over 26.1 innings and allowed nearly as many walks (21) as he recorded strikeouts (26) over that time. But there is reason to think he can return to his prior All Star form.
For starters, 23 of his 62 appearances resulted in a 1-2-3 inning without allowing a baserunner. Only six of his appearances led to 2 or more earned runs – though, invariably, the magnitude is greater given the circumstances surrounding those blow-ups.
Additionally, someone in the Pirates organization clearly saw the May video as Bednar made some tweaks in how he held the ball and allowed earned runs in just two of his final 9 appearances after the video dropped.
And the one thing that didn’t suffer last season was his “stuff” as his fastball ticked up from an average 96.6 MPH in ‘23 to 97.2 in ‘24. All three of his offerings – 4-seam, curve and splitter – posted above-average metrics in Stuff+, which accounts for less tangible aspects of a pitch including location, velocity, spin rate and release point.
Bednar has arrived at Spring Training with a singular focus: Proving to everyone that last year was a mere blemish and he is ready to start slinging high heat and making hitters look silly. He’s eager to reclaim the closer role and re-establish himself as one of the best closers in the National League.
Can he do it? We’ll soon find out.
Steel City Pirates 