Bednar back with Bucs after productive stint in Minors

PITTSBURGH -- Like many, David Bednar can now admit that he was surprised when he was told he was being optioned to the Minors earlier this month.

It had been a turbulent start to the season, taking two losses in the opening series against the Marlins and nearly blowing a save in the Pirates’ only win that series, but Bednar was coming off of an encouraging Spring Training. The 2024 season was rough, but he has a pair of All-Star Games on his resume too.

It didn’t matter. The Pirates didn’t like what they saw, so they sent him to Triple-A Indianapolis on April 1 to try to right the ship. He was recalled Saturday as the corresponding move for left-hander Tim Mayza, who was placed on the injured list with a left shoulder lat muscle strain.

“I felt like I was in a good spot at the time,” Bednar said Saturday, back at his normal locker at PNC Park for the first time this year. "These past couple weeks, getting to work with the pitching coaches down there, really just optimized my stuff. As frustrating as it was, I just tried to make the most out of it, and I know I'm in a really good spot moving forward.”

When the Pirates optioned Bednar, they didn’t have a firm idea of how long he would be in the Minors. They had a list of objectives to work on that will stay in-house, but it’s not hard to deduce that his secondary stuff wasn’t as sharp as it was in his All-Star campaigns, and he wasn’t throwing it in the strike zone nearly as often.

Manager Derek Shelton did offer that Bednar has shown consistency in all three of his pitches, which the team was looking for. Now it’s time to see if that time to reset means he can more consistently execute his four-seamer, splitter and curve.

“Being sent down is challenging, and it scars you a little bit, and it should,” Shelton said. “That's not a bad thing. But he went down and handled his business. He went down, he had good conversations with our pitching coaches down there. He had good conversations with Jeremy Bleich, our director of pitching. It wasn't like, 'Hey, I'm going to feel bad for myself, feel sorry or be in a situation where I'm going to waste days.'

“He wasted no days. That's why he's back this quickly."

Bednar recognizes he’s coming back with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but that comes with those scars that Shelton mentioned.

“I think that's all part of it,” Bednar said. “I think you learn a lot of perspective and just come back with a lot more conviction in what I'm doing and what makes me good. Ready to carry that through.”

During a media availability Friday, general manager Ben Cherington said he saw Bednar being “right in the middle” of the team’s bullpen plans. Shelton said he has no specific role in the bullpen right now, hardly a surprise given that the manager declined to formally name him the team’s closer coming out of Spring Training.

Bednar is also rejoining a bullpen that has been producing of late, albeit without having a defined closer or setup man. Even after a five-run blowup by Kyle Nicolas on Friday, the team’s relievers have pitched to a 3.32 ERA since April 6, with Dennis Santana, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Borucki emerging as the Bucs’ most prominent leverage arms.

Maybe one day Bednar will be re-enshrined as the Pirates' ninth-inning guy and the All-Star-worthy closer they saw in 2022 and 2023, but that’s not the immediate goal.

"I think long-term, I hope he gets back to that,” Shelton said. “Short-term, we're going to take it day by day. He basically became that guy by just grinding and pitching and doing those things, and that's all we're really asking him to do."

Until then, Bednar is finally in a position to rejoin his hometown team, not to mention hear “Renegade” by Styx blast over PNC Park’s sound system as he enters the game.

“Just ready to get back and get it going,” he said.