Whenever 2021 first-round pick Will Bednar reaches big league camp for the first time, he might find that he has more questions for the shortstop than the Giants' starting pitchers.
Bednar, taken 14th overall out of Mississippi State last July, grew up a short drive from PNC Park in Pittsburgh and said on this week's Giants Talk Podcast that Gerrit Cole was his pitching idol when he was younger. Cole is the brother-in-law of Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford and now the ace of the New York Yankees, but Bednar still has a very good reason for following the Pirates.
"I'm a David Bednar fan," he said, smiling. "It's really cool getting to watch Dave throw. I try to watch pretty much any time he throws and in our family group chat it's always just, like, my mom or dad freaking out, like 'He's in! He's in! He's in!"
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The older Bednar brother was one of the best relievers in the National League last season as a rookie, and if all goes according to the Giants' plans, that family group chat will soon be a bit busier. Will Bednar is already their second-best pitching prospect per most evaluators and potentially a fixture in their rotation for years to come.
Bednar got his first taste of professional baseball last summer when he threw seven innings in rookie ball and Low-A. As he was getting his feet wet and heading into an important offseason, the Giants started working with him to develop a better third pitch, something he knew was going to be necessary.
It's easy to see what the Giants liked about Bednar last spring and summer. He was the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series while leading Mississippi State to a national title, showing off a feel for the big moment and the command of an arsenal that should land him in a big league rotation. He pounds the zone with a fastball that topped out at 97 last year and has good carry, leading to a lot of swinging strikes in the zone. Bednar complemented that with a plus slider.
"He checked a lot of boxes for us," scouting director Michael Holmes said after the draft.
The command of those two pitches would be enough to get Bednard through the low minors, but to reach his ceiling he'll need more. Bednar is hopeful the changeup improves enough to give him another weapon, a pitch he can throw in on righties and away from lefties.
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"The changeup seemed like the most reasonable one to kind of have as a third pitch, something to play off the slider, going the other way," he said. "The fastball, I think, plays pretty well up in the zone (and) the slider is kind of sweepy. (The changeup is) something better arm-side to, I guess, counteract that slider. That's something I've been working on pretty much all offseason.
"Changeups are hard to throw. I've been trying to throw one for a long time, there's nothing easy about that. I think that kind of gives more credit to the guys that throw good ones. That's something I've been working on pretty hard and we've been tinkering a lot with here. It's coming along. I think it'll be a good pitch here soon (but) it's not quite there yet."
Bednar developed the slider in part by picking other pitchers' brains. He said he took bits and pieces of advice from conversations with other pitchers and coaches, and he has an early opportunity this spring to do the same as he works on a third pitch. While Major League Baseball continues to lock out big leaguers, minor league minicamp started earlier this month at the massive new facility a short drive from Scottsdale Stadium.
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Workouts have picked up in recent days and the minor leaguers began facing each other in live BP on Thursday, giving Bednar and others a chance to start working toward a minor league season that will start on time. Bednar made two starts for Low-A San Jose last summer and should begin the 2022 season there or with High-A Eugene, but college pitchers taken in the first round tend to move quickly.
The work has already started on refining a pitch mix that could get Bednar to a big league rotation that's been sorely lacking in homegrown help in recent years. Once he gets there, the competitiveness can take over.
"I hate losing anything," Bednar said. "Especially baseball, but it can really be anything, whether it's playing Xbox or playing the word search game with my girlfriend. I hate losing those, too. I'm pretty competitive with everything."