A Yankees reliever is giving Mariano Rivera vibes | Klapisch
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Anyone who studies baseball knows the cardinal rule of scouting: Never fall in love with a small sample size. It’s the ultimate tease, never to be trusted.
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That’s why I withheld judgment on David Bednar after the Yankees acquired him last July. They needed a closer and he checked a number of boxes. With a 2.19 ERA in 24 2/3 innings, all parties agreed it was a promising first impression.
But that’s all it was. Bednar still had miles to go before proving a) he’d be reliable a second and third time around the AL East, b) he wouldn’t rattle under extreme pressure and c) he could handle the legacy of the great Mariano Rivera, who spoiled us all.
Every post-Rivera closer has come up short for one reason or another.
Aroldis Chapman had superman-like velocity. Good luck trying to make contact when he was throwing strikes. But control was a problem. So were his moods.
The left-hander walked out on the team in 2022 after feeling disrespected by manager Aaron Boone. All the manager did was elevate Clay Holmes to the closer’s role while Chapman was on the injured list.
Chapman failed to see the logic, and he has since said he’d rather retire than ever play for the Yankees again.
Holmes was Chapman’s polar opposite, as friendly as the Cuban star was volatile. He relied less on speed than cartoon-like movement. Holmes’ sinker could dart from one side of the plate to the other — a whopping 17 inches.
But he nevertheless suffered from confidence problems and ultimately lost his job to Luke Weaver midway through the 2024 season.
Poor Weaver. His fastball flamed out after a crushing workload late in ‘24. Weaver was reduced to throwing nationally televised batting practice last October. The Yankees never even made Weaver an offer as a free agent over the winter.
Devin Williams and his killer change-up were supposed to be the answer. But he found out the hard way that Milwaukee isn’t the Bronx, where repeated bad outings will turn a late-inning reliever into public enemy No. 1.
That’s the price every Yankees closer pays for Rivera’s enduring legacy. I found Bednar to be refreshingly honest the first time we talked about the standard Rivera set.
“Obviously, there’s no one like him,” Bednar said. “The things he did, over and over, year after year, with that (cut-fastball) … for anyone else it would be close to impossible.”
Still, Bednar stood out from the others who preceded him. He had superior velocity, control of three pitches and a can-do attitude. The 10 saves and 2.19 ERA in August and September were encouraging, but I was still curious about Bednar’s second act in 2026.
The World Baseball Classic might have been a clue.
Not only was Bednar perfect in four appearances — no runs, six hits, eight strikeouts — but it looks like he’s anxiety-proof. Facing the powerful Dominican Republic lineup in the bottom of the seventh inning of the semi-final game, Bednar struck out Fernando Tatis and Ketel Marte to preserve the Americans’ 2-1 lead.
The pressure on Bednar was enormous — and he came up big. I was shocked that Team USA manager Mark DeRosa didn’t go to Bednar in the championship game against Venezuela.
For some reason, DeRosa chose Garrett Whitlock after Bryce Harper’s two-run home run tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. It took Whitlock just two batters to cough up the lead in the ninth inning, sending Team USA to a humiliating defeat.
Bednar had a day’s rest between the semi-final and championship games. He would’ve been the better choice. DeRosa made multiple mistakes throughout the tournament. Skipping Bednar was one of them.
Not that he would’ve ever complained, even if this wasn’t a preseason event. Bednar has a stable and drama-free personality that managers appreciate.
Boone went out of his way to praise Bednar for that very reason earlier in camp.
“It means a lot to have people who are your stars, or core players, just key pieces that are not divas,” Boone said, adding that Bednar, “sets the right example all the time.”
There’s more to it, of course. Bednar is a pillar in the Yankees’ bullpen, not just because he’s old-school tough. He’s also a hitter’s nightmare.
I spoke to an American League scout this week about Bednar. He couldn’t stop raving about the classic strategy Bednar employs. In an era when closers rely on one weapon — maximum heat on every pitch — Bednar is all about the craft.
He likes to work north to south in the strike zone. He can do so with all three pitches in his arsenal.
Fastball: A blistering four-seamer that Bednar prefers to use at the top of the zone. It sits in the 97-98 mph range and sets up his off-speed pitches.
Curveball: A 77-mph weapon with an 11-5 break (a slight variation from the classic 12-6 arc). Bednar throws this pitch down in the zone to his glove side, meaning the inside corner to right-handed hitters. It’s a swing-and-miss beauty.
Splitter: At 91-92 mph, Bednar gets whiffs and ground balls with the splitter. It’s pure gold for rally-killing double plays.
There’s one more intangible, according to the scout.
“(Bednar’s) makeup is off the charts,” he said.
None of this guarantees perfection, of course, but on the scale of one-to-Mariano, Bednar could be closer than any Yankee in years.
Come to think of it, that would be perfect.
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