For Bednar, Pittsburgh homecoming 'something special'

It all still hasn’t sunk in yet for David Bednar. The last time he was pitching in western Pennsylvania was for Mars high school, located about 25 miles north from PNC Park.

The next time he takes a mound, it very well could be at his hometown ballpark. Bednar was one of five players the Pirates got back in the three team trade that sent Joe Musgrove to the Padres Monday.

The other four players  the Pirates received in that deal -- outfielder Hudson Head, catcher Endy Rodriguez, left-hander Omar Cruz and right-hander Drake Fellows – will all need to spend several years in the minor leagues before they reach the majors. Bednar, 26, has made Major League cameos the last two seasons with the Padres and is primed for more with the Pirates in 2021.

Those first games in the majors are always special, but to pitch for the team he rooted for growing up?

“For it to come full circle and have the opportunity to pitch at PNC Park, pitch in a Pirates uniform is something special,” Bednar was telling me.

Bednar was back in Pittsburgh this week when the trade broke. When his parents found out, his mom started digging through old photos and found this gem of him at the 2006 All-Star game FanFest. When he saw it, the first words out of his mouth were, “that’s perfect,” and shared it:

There are similarities between the teenage Bednar that idolized A.J. Burnett while pitching for Mars, most notably the fastball and curveball combo. FanGraphs gave both pitches a 60-grade in their most recent scouting report on him, with his fastball averaging 96 mph last year with the Padres and his curveball getting slightly above average vertical movement.

He’s added a third pitch since then too, and it is probably the most intriguing: A splitter.

The origins of that pitch go back to the Padres’ instructional league in 2016. Bednar had just completed his first season in the system and was looking to add a third pitch to his repertoire. At first he started toying with a changeup, but it eventually started to morph into a splitter.

During that time, the coaches nudged him closer to Hideo Nomo. The former All-Star was an instructor at the camp, and when he was dominating hitters in the mid-90s, it was with his forkball. A forkball and splitter have the same grip, with the only real difference being the velocity.

It was the first of many conversations the two would have, but the foundation was laid during that camp.

“It kind of clicked,” Bednar said. “As the years went on, I got more comfortable, and at each affiliate [I stopped at], he would make his rounds and we would have a discussion on it each time.”

The goal became to have that pitch “look like a fastball until it wasn’t.” When it’s working, it drops straight down:

In a way, it’s the perfect median pitch of his high-velocity fastball and looping curve.

“It’s a pitch I can be aggressive with and throw towards the bottom of the zone, so it went hand-in-hand with my other pitches,” Bednar said.

When he reached the Majors, he shared a bullpen with Kirby Yates, the Padres' closer who has the game’s best splitter/forkball since, well, Nomo.

“Having those two guys, to be able to pick their brains,” Bednar said. “It’s a unique pitch, so to have those guys to bounce ideas off of and know it’s headed in the right direction when it goes through ups and downs is invaluable to have.”

It will be a unique look for the Pirates’ bullpen. Over the last two years, the only Pirates pitcher who threw a splitter was Nick Tropeano, an inning eater who was only in the Majors because rosters were expanded in 2020.

“We think he'll be in a position to compete for a job this spring training,” Ben Cherington said during a Zoom call Tuesday. “He's got really good stuff, really good minor-league track record, great reputation as a guy. Looking forward to getting to know him.”

Cherington and Derek Shelton have both said on multiple occasions this offseason that there will be plenty of competition in Pirates spring training. That will be even more so for the bullpen, which has very few established veterans. Richard Rodriguez filled in nicely as a late-inning hand last year, Chris Stratton led the National League in appearances and Kyle Crick will be given a chance to rebound after an injury-filled season. Outside of them, Michael Feliz (who missed almost all of 2020) and Edgar Santana (who hasn’t pitched in a game since 2018), nobody else on the roster has more than 56 Major League appearances. There will be spots up for grabs.

That’s the type of environment Bednar wants to be a part of.

“There’s a lot of guys in a similar position as I am,” Bednar said. “All hungry to prove themselves and earn spots. When you have a group of guys, all with that same goal, it’s going to be exciting.”