TAMPA BAY, Fla. — For the most part, Derek Shelton has been pleased with how David Bednar looked this spring. But despite his continued confidence in the right-hander, the Pirates’ skipper was once again unwilling to name Bednar the club’s closer, when asked Sunday afternoon prior to his club’s Grapefruit League contest against the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“I don’t think right now we have that,” Shelton said when asked about who will fill his team’s closer role to start the 2025 season. “I think right now we’ll go and kind of figure out what we’re going to do from there.”
A two-time All-Star, Bednar was revoked of his closer duties in late August of last season. He finished 2024 with seven blown saves, eight losses, nine home runs allowed and a 5.77 ERA, all career-worst marks for him in a full MLB season.
Despite that poor showing, the Pirates expressed their belief in Bednar throughout the offseason, stating numerous times that they trusted him to bounce back into the player he had been from 2021 through 2023. And while the manager’s comments Sunday morning mark the second time he has refused to deem Bednar as the closer this spring — the first being on the national baseball podcast “Foul Territory” — Shelton did make time to express that he has been happy with how the veteran reliever has looked throughout Grapefruit League action.
“I thought yesterday was good,” Shelton said of Bednar’s outing Saturday against the Orioles. “I mean the day in Minnesota, he did not throw the ball well at all. The fastball was up, the breaking ball was inconsistent, I don’t know if that was coming off the off day, I’ll give him a little bit of a mulligan there. But yesterday I thought he threw the ball well. He was 96 to 98, the ball was at the top of the zone, the breaking ball was sharp.”
“I mean yesterday, the first five innings was not the cleanest game defensively for us, so my frustration level may have been a little high on that, but I thought he threw the ball really well yesterday and was really happy with it. I think this is where we go in spring training, because sometimes you have to look at the process and not the results. Now the day down in Minnesota wasn’t a good day. He and Oscar had some conversations, I thought the bounce back yesterday, the stuff was good.”
Through six Grapefruit League outings this spring, Bednar has logged five innings, surrendering nine runs, eight earned on 10 hits and three walks during that stretch, while striking out five batters.
Update on Falter
On Thursday, Pirates’ left-hander Bailey Falter was scratched from his start against the Twins due to what the team described as “general soreness.” Falter was said to have not recovered well after throwing catch in the days prior to his start, leading the Pirates to take cautionary steps to further evaluate his health. Shelton gave an update on Falter on Sunday, saying the left-hander is OK.
“We wanted him to throw another bullpen,” Shelton said. “I think the term Todd Tomczyk used was ‘an abundance of caution’ and it really was. So he threw a bullpen the next day and we wanted to see how he recovered there and he felt fine so we just slotted him back in.”
Falter is scheduled to pitch Monday, in Lakeland against the Tigers. It will be his first Grapefruit League outing since March 3 against the Yankees in Tampa Bay.
Backup catcher battle
While Joey Bart has established himself as the Pirates’ starting catcher, the battle for the second spot remains one of the most heated competitions in the final stretch of spring training. Competing for the job, of course, are Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez and Jason Delay.
Davis, who made the team as the starting catcher out of camp last year, has shown strong results thanks to some changes with his swing, bashing a pair of homers, including a grand slam Saturday, while hitting .269 with an .898 OPS over 11 games entering Sunday’s game in Tampa. Rodriguez has swung perhaps an even better bat through his first 11 spring games, hitting .364 with a homer, four RBIs and a 1.108 OPS.
Delay has been a bit more quiet at the bat, batting just .125 with four RBIs and a .347 OPS in 10 games, but he too remains in the competition thanks to his skills behind the dish. Shelton said Sunday morning that the choice to pick Bart’s backup will likely come down to the very end of camp.
"It's challenging,” Shelton said. “It's one that's going to go down to the end. Those guys are having good springs. They're producing. They've done everything we've asked them to do this winter and I think they're making it very difficult for us, which is a good thing."
Game recap
In Sunday's spring training contest, the Pirates defeated the Yankees by a final 4-3 at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Darick Hall mashed a two-run homer off former Pirate Rob Zastryzny in the top of the ninth inning, ultimately putting Pittsburgh ahead for good. Isaac Mattson was the game's winning pitcher, while Zastryzny suffered the loss. J.C. Flowers came on in the ninth inning to record the save.
Pirates pitchers had notable success Sunday against a Yankee lineup that featured many regulars such as Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Carson Fulmer started the afternoon, allowing a pair of earned runs over 2 ⅔ innings. Following his exit, the rest of the Pirates’ pitching staff would only surrender a single run, coming from a solo homer by Dom Smith off Flowers in the bottom of the ninth.
Tim Mayza threw 1 ⅓ scoreless innings of relief, which was followed by Joey Wentz and Mattson each throwing a pair of shutout innings. The Pirates’ first two runs of the day came on a force out hit by Jared Triolo with the bases loaded, that scored an extra run thanks to a throwing error from Chisholm.
Up next
The Pirates will play a pair of games Monday afternoon, taking on the Twins at LECOM Park and the Tigers on the road in Lakeland. Paul Skenes will start the home contest, while Falter will start the road game. Right-handers Joe Ryan and Reese Olson will be the respective opposing pitchers for those matchups. Both contests are scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. Fans can watch the home contest on SportsNet Pittsburgh, or listen on KDKA 100.1-FM & 1020-AM.
First Published: March 16, 2025, 4:28 p.m.
Updated: March 16, 2025, 7:56 p.m.
