Will Bednar seeking MLB breakthrough with Giants after ‘rocky’ career start

SCOTTSDALE — The new scoreboard at Scottsdale Stadium has been displaying detailed pitching metrics during some scrimmages this spring, and the Giants expect to make that data more publicly available now that it’s been streamlined across the Cactus League because of the implementation of the ABS system. But for right-handed reliever Will Bednar, a key number is a traditional one. Bednar’s velocity took a leap last year as he worked exclusively out of the bullpen for the first time, getting all the way up to 99.7 mph. While broadcasts would round that up to 100 and throw some flames on the screen, Bednar does not consider himself part of the triple-digit club. At least not yet. “Some people like to claim it’s 100. I do not — 100 is when it’s two zeroes,” he said on Thursday’s Giants Talk podcast. “That’s the hundred. Obviously, the main plan is to punch tickets and get outs, but I would like to throw 100.”If the progression continues — and the Giants are optimistic it will — Bednar might get there soon. What would help is the adrenaline of a big league ballpark, and after five seasons in the minors, the 14th overall pick in the 2021 draft is closer than ever to that being a reality.The Giants gave Bednar a non-roster invite to big league camp and the new staff is eager to get a look at him. They need several young players to take a leap this season and become consistent bullpen options, and during many of his outings in Triple-A late last year, he looked like a big part of the solution. “Down the stretch last year, he was as good as anybody in minor league baseball,” senior director of player development Kyle Haines said. “You watch his best innings and people in September were going, ‘Why is this guy even in the minor leagues?’ He looked like a Major League closer. Now, outing to outing, the consistency would waver, but he’s a little less experienced than we give him credit for.”Because he was at Mississippi State in the middle of the pandemic, Bednar made just 17 starts in college before the Giants took him in the first round. It was a small sample, but he was also the College World Series Most Outstanding Player after leading the Bulldogs to their first title, and he looked the part of a frontline starter in every way. Two years after the draft, Bednar was in Scottsdale, but not because he had rocketed through the minors. Persistent back problems led to month after month of rehab, and he made just 17 starts in his first two professional seasons, many of them in the Arizona Complex League and Fall League. “I’d say, to sum it up, I’d say it’s been rocky,” he said. “Obviously, it hasn’t gone quite the way I wanted it to go. Obviously, (I got) off to a rough start and then being hurt for two years after that obviously was not my plan. “But I think coming out of that, I’m better because of it. I have a better way of handling adversity and I know how to manage myself a little bit better. It definitely made me better all around.”Front offices absolutely hate moving starters to the pen before it’s fully necessary, and it’s especially hard to swallow with a first-round pick. But by 2024, the Giants felt internally that they really just needed to get Bednar on the mound. The best way to do that was to let him pitch as a reliever when he was healthy, and he reached Double-A that season. In 2025, it was all about getting used to life out of the bullpen. While the raw numbers haven’t always been pretty — he had a 6.05 ERA overall in Double-A — the Giants liked the progression they saw. The velocity went from low 90s to the upper end, and he tightened his repertoire. The slider got more vertical movement as he started to throw it harder and he continued to work on a splitter that he feels has shown promise this spring. In 52 1/3 innings last year, he struck out 84.Mostly, Bednar found that he loved the mentality, which is no surprise. His older brother, David, has 111 career saves and will visit Scottsdale in March as part of Team USA’s bullpen. “It’s less time to think and more time to just get ready and go in the game,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it a lot and Dave, it’s been very nice to kind of pick his brain and get help from him on how he does it.”The change has allowed Bednar to put his injuries behind him, and it’s not hard to notice that there’s always a smile on his face this spring. At a camp for minor leaguers over the offseason, Haines got to pull him aside and give him the news about spring training. Bednar said he was “fired up” and “ready to rock and roll.”“I see a new joy in him,” Haines said. “Even when I called and told him that he’s coming to camp. We probably don’t see it this way without those struggles.”The latest twist in Bednar’s story has been a positive one, but there’s a long way to go. Scouts loved the velocity they saw from him late in the year, but he also gave up quite a few runs during a late-season cameo with Triple-A Sacramento. The Giants left the 25-year-old unprotected from the Rule 5 Draft and he did not get selected. Bednar almost certainly will start the season in Triple-A, but this is an organization that plans to build its bullpen from internal options, and he’s now part of a large group of young pitchers hoping to lock up a spot at some point. The comeback after years of discomfort has been a good story. The Giants are hopeful there’s another chapter to be written.“I think it would be an amazing story and I think if we look back on it and say, ‘Hey, he became David Bednar,’ we’d all be ecstatic,” Haines said. “He’s shown flashes of being a quality reliever in doses. Being here, let’s see if he can do it consistently.”Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Will Bednar seeking MLB breakthrough with Giants after ‘rocky’ career start

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