Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton has gone to great lengths to avoid labeling David Bednar as anything other than a high-leverage or back-end reliever out of the bullpen.
After Bednar clinched a series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday with his fourth consecutive save — and third in as many days — Shelton finally acknowledged the obvious about the All-Star from Mars.
“I think he’s become one of the elite closers in the game,” Shelton said. “We talk about our bullpen now in terms of guys pitching themselves into roles. ‘Beddy’ pitched himself into a role. Last year he pitched in the sixth and seventh. He moved himself to the back of the game. With the stuff that we’re seeing, the ability to execute three pitches, we’re looking at one of the elite closers in the game.”
Bednar, 28, has provided the ammunition for the argument: His 13 saves this season are tied with Cincinnati’s Alexis Diaz and San Diego’s Josh Hader for second-most in the National League, behind San Francisco’s Camilo Doval (14), and tied for sixth-best in the majors.
Bednar’s only blown save came April 11 against Houston, when he wasted a 4-2 lead by giving up a two-run double to Chas McCormick in the ninth inning. The Pirates lost 7-4 in 10 innings.
Since then, Bednar has converted his last nine save opportunities — even though he went a month between them as the Pirates struggled for most of May. That changed when Bednar closed out a 2-1 win at San Francisco last Tuesday, then put the finishing touches on all three games against the Cardinals over the weekend.
“It just means that they trust me,” said Bednar, who closed three consecutive games for the first time in his career. “That’s all I can do is, I can just go out there and throw, have the trust of my manager, have the trust of my teammates to go out there and finish the job. I don’t really worry about titles or anything like that.”
Of course, Bednar earned All-Star honors for the first time last season, when he didn’t record his 13th save until July 5. But he pitched 46 2/3 innings before the end of July, then missed nearly two months with a back injury. That explains Shelton’s reluctance to call the 6-foot-1, 250-pound Bednar the closer, at least until he proves he can handle that role for a full season.
Pirates 43-year-old left-handeder Rich Hill said Bednar’s ability to execute a four-seam fastball that averages 96 mph with a curveball and splitter — along with a cutter — is what makes him “special” in save situations.
“It’s four extremely impressive pitches that, most times, you might see closer have two,” Hill said. “So, now, trying to cover four is a tall task to ask of hitters in that ninth inning.”
Although Bednar throws his fastball on 56.8% of his pitches, Pirates catcher Austin Hedges said it’s the command of the secondary stuff that forces hitters to take every at-bat seriously and separates Bednar from other ninth-inning specialists.
“Obviously, he’s got an amazing fastball that he beats a lot of guys with, but the curveball and splitter are outstanding,” Hedges said. “Not a lot of closers can pitch as well as he can. He can truly pitch. It’s not just fastballs up, breaking balls down. He can hit his spots and pitch to dudes, which is really special.”
In 24 innings, Bednar has a 1.13 ERA and 0.75 WHIP with a .189 batting average against and 30 strikeouts with only one walk allowed. Per Statcast, Bednar ranks among baseball’s best with a 1.1% walk rate, 33.3% strikeout rate and 85.2-mph exit velocity.
“I pride myself on throwing any pitch in any count,” Bednar said, “and I think that really comes with having intent with everything, being aggressive and really having that mantra of just filling up the zone. The hitters can feel that, and that’s something I try and do.”
After pitching a scoreless ninth in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Cardinals, Bednar decided that he would be ready to pitch Sunday with the chance for a sweep against the NL Central Division rival. He convinced himself to the point that when Bednar arrived at PNC Park on Sunday morning, he walked by Shelton’s office and told him that he “was ready to go.”
What impressed Shelton was that Bednar said so before he even threw, yet left Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage “convicted” after they watched Bednar in pre-game warmups.
“Felt good, felt prepared going into it and I told Shelty I felt good,” Bednar said, “and he trusted me to go out there for a third day.”
That’s because Bednar had been efficient in throwing 10 of 17 pitches for strikes on Friday and eight of 14 for strikes on Saturday, so Shelton didn’t hesitate to turn to Bednar in the ninth inning Sunday with the Pirates clinging to a one-run lead over the Cardinals.
Bednar threw his curveball, then a fastball and a splitter to get Paul DeJong to fly out to right, where Connor Joe made a running catch. Bednar threw three consecutive fastballs to Luken Baker, who singled to right to put the tying run on base. Then Bednar used an 0-1 fastball to get Jordan Walker to fly out to right.
That brought Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner, who had homered in his previous at-bat, to the plate with two outs. Bednar threw a curveball on the outside corner for a called strike. He threw another curveball, this one low and away, to get Knizner swinging for strike two. Finally, Bednar went hunting for a punchout, firing a 96.8-mph fastball up in the zone that Knizner chased for the final out.
“That was a good way to end the game,” Bednar said.
That conviction impressed Hill, who has played for 12 teams in 19 seasons and mentioned Bednar alongside former teammates Jonathan Papelbon and Kenley Jasnsen as dominant closers.
“In my opinion, he’s one of the best,” Hill said of Bednar. “I’d put him up there with any of the guys that I’ve played with, who arguably could be and probably will be Hall of Famers. I know it’s early for David and his career, but you can see that conviction and that confidence and that’s something that you want in your closer and that’s something that we’re fortunate to have.”
