Pirates by Position: Bounce-back year by closer David Bednar could be key to bullpen success

Ben Cherington will be the first to admit the Pittsburgh Pirates expected their bullpen to be dominant last season, and their general manager is the first to acknowledge its shortcomings.

Adding seven-time All-Star Aroldis Chapman to a back end that featured two-time All-Star closer David Bednar was supposed to deliver a devastating one-two punch. Instead, the Pirates bullpen finished with MLB’s fourth-worst ERA (4.49) and third-most blown saves (29).

“First of all, I just take responsibility,” Cherington said last month in a Q&A session with fans at PiratesFest. “We came into 2024 believing that the bullpen could be a strength of the team. I felt that way. Ultimately, it wasn’t strong enough. It had its moments. We had good performances. But, as a group, overall, for a six-month season, it wasn’t quite strong enough to be able to help us do what we wanted to do as a team.

“Ultimately, that’s on me. It’s my job to figure out how to build that group that helps us win for six months, seven months.”

Cherington has been busy this offseason, signing veteran free-agent left-handers Caleb Ferguson ($3 million) and Tim Mayza ($1.15 million) to one-year contracts and acquiring righties Brett de Geus and Pete Strzelecki in trades for cash considerations and Chase Shugart for a minor leaguer.

But the Pirates are adamant their greatest improvement will come internally, as they are counting on a bounce-back season from Bednar.

After leading the majors in save percentage (92.9%) in 2023, the Mars alum went from hometown hero to being booed off the field. His spring was disrupted by a lat strain, and Bednar recorded a 5.77 ERA and seven blown saves last season.

“Absolutely, it’s very challenging in all aspects,” Bednar said. “You’re disappointed all the way around, but I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on that. It’s one of those things where you can see just how hard the job is. Other guys have gone through similar stretches and returned right back to form, so I have a lot of belief in myself.”

Bednar recalled the “blind confidence” he showed upon being traded to the Pirates from San Diego in January 2021, posting a 2.23 ERA and 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings while finishing eighth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. He earned the closer role the following season, recording 19 saves in 2022 and tied for the NL lead with 39 saves in ’23.

“Now it’s kind of the same thing. I have to completely flush that,” said Bednar, who avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $5.9 million deal. “But I know who I am and what I can be. Ultimately, I know the type of pitcher I am, the type of teammate I am. I’m just really looking forward to 2025, a fresh start and really getting back after it.”

Bednar’s teammates never lost belief in him, given his 97.2 mph fastball velocity ranked in the 97th percentile, per Statcast, and opponents batted .172 against his curveball. And the two-time Roberto Clemente Award nominee is renowned for his charitable contributions and jovial clubhouse presence.

“He’d be the first one to say he didn’t have the year that he wanted to or expected to last year, but he was the same guy every single day in the clubhouse. He never changed. He went about his business the same way, and that’s what you got to do as a reliever, especially as a closer,” Pirates reliever Kyle Nicolas said.

“You’re going to get knocked down a lot of times. A couple things go wrong, and it’s all on you or whatever. So, just having that mental toughness that he had. He got better throughout the year, I feel like. His stuff was just getting better all the way through the year. He’s a great guy to have. I love having him on my team, for sure.”

Cherington cited Bednar as an example of a Pirates scouting success story and the need to develop relievers. They fired bullpen coach Justin Meccage and replaced him by promoting Triple-A Indianapolis manager Miguel Perez, added 76-year-old Brent Strom as an assistant pitching coach and promoted Jeremy Bleich to director of pitching development.

“What we have to do to build a great bullpen is find those guys, find guys before they’re obvious and find as many of them as we possibly can and take that makeup on those guys and our pitching infrastructure and information and performance team and put them in the best possible position,” Cherington said. “We’ve proven that we can do that. We’ve done that in previous years. We thought we had it going into 2024. Wasn’t quite, so it’s on me to fix that.”

That puts the onus on the Pirates to get the most out of returning righty relievers Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski, Dennis Santana and Nicolas as well as lefty Joey Wentz. The recovery of fireman Dauri Moreta from Tommy John surgery could provide another boost, and lefty Ryan Borucki signed a minor-league deal after missing most of last season with triceps inflammation.

Finding pitchers who can protect a lead into the ninth inning is Cherington’s first challenge. As he knows, getting Bednar back to closing out games the way he did in 2023 could be the key to the season.

“I’ve never been more ready to go and just dialed in and hungry to get back to knowing who I am,” Bednar said. “The biggest thing is, I know the pitcher I am and will be this year and what I expect of myself and what my teammates will expect of me, as well.”