March 16, 2023 • 31 mins
The Book of Joe Podcast begins with hosts Tom Verducci and Joe Maddon welcoming Pirates pitcher David Bednar to the show. David is part of Team USA at the World Baseball Classic and describes what it's like playing for his country and this team. While talking about his pitches, David reveals how he incorporated a splitter into his game and the other major league pitcher that helped him. David explains how he was drafted by the Padres in the 35th round and beat the odds to reach the big leagues. He also found out he was traded to the Pirates in a very unique way!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Book of Joe Podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey there, welcome back to the Book of Joe podcast.
We'd like to call it the most interesting and unpredictable
baseball podcast that's out there. You never know who's going
to show up. I am Tom Berducci. Of course, Joe
(00:26):
Madden is with me again and our special guest Joe.
It's kind of Loffyett College day around here. I mean,
we couldn't get Stephen Crane on account that he died
nineteen hundred. He also skipped out of school after one semester.
So we have David Benner, All Star Closer and member
of Team USA in the WBC. So we got two
(00:51):
Leopards on the show today. Joe, you can't get better
than that man. You know when you brought up that
you were going to get you had a chance to
get David on the show, and we were just talking
prior to coming on. I was at the homecoming last
year and there a coach there, a J. Miller. I
was asking him about David. He could not make it.
He just told us why because he had just gotten married.
But I've been wanting to meet this guy. Truth be
(01:12):
Told twenty twenty and the parties are we not what
the Angels play? You? An exhibition game of some kind? Yeah,
exactly at your ballpark, right. And that's the first time
I first time I saw him thrown. I didn't know
you were a Leopard at that time, and I said,
I asked me, who is that? I mean, who is that?
I really liked the arm a lot, and then I
(01:33):
brought it up a couple other times with different people,
and nobody really researched you enough. I'm listened. Man, that
first time I saw you throw a baseball, I don't
care if you're from Lafayette or from Moravian, Muhlenberg, any
of any of the Lehigh Valley schools. That was impressive.
So it's great to meet you finally. And I you're
playing in Pittsburgh with my boy Shelty, and I'll shut
(01:55):
up for right now, but man, it's great to have
you on board. Oh man, thank you guys for having me.
It's you know, thanks for having me. It's a definitely
an honor, and that's a that's a big confident coming
from me. I'm serious, man. Yeah, you're gonna have a
long career to stay well. Do all your little jobs
and all the exercises after you throw. Make sure you
take care of your stuff. Macer, you can play for
a while. That stuff's that good. Thank you appreciate that. Yeah,
(02:16):
we're gonna get into David's story. Besides the Lafayette it's
a fascinating background because we're talking about somebody not just
coming out of it. Let's face it, not a huge
baseball powerhouse on the baseball map, but thirty fifth round me,
my holy Infield played pro ball, the holy Field from
the d nineteen seventy three fourteen at least we played
pro ball, and this guy is now on Team USA.
(02:41):
I want to start there, David, because I've been following
the games obviously, the atmosphere is just tremendous. If anybody
hasn't checked out any WBC game, especially Team USA, you
have to check it out. So, David, I gotta ask
you being part of this group here when your buddy's
back home, family members asking you, Hey, what's it like
(03:01):
playing with this Team USA. It's essentially all star team.
What do you tell them? I mean, honestly, it's just unreal. Uh,
you know, just being being around those group of guys
is really special. You just kind of take a look
around the locker room and you see the talent from
top to bottom. It's you know, it's it's a it's
an incredible group to be around, and I'm just trying
to soak in, you know, every every moment, every opportunity
(03:22):
I have, and just try and make the most of it,
because it truly is unbelievable. David, how did the invite
come about? You know, I we had our actually like
we had like a meeting with our GM Ben and
Shelty at the end of the last year, and they
kind of brought it up to me, and uh, you know,
obviously I was very interested, and you know, they're they've
been very supportive about the whole time, so, you know,
(03:43):
and then probably three weeks after they brought up to me,
is whenever I found out I was officially on the squad.
Is it's it's really humbling and a huge honor to
be a part of that group and you know, have
the opportunity to where you you know, USA across the chest.
It's it's it's really special, and you know, I'm incredibly
thankful for it for it. Have you have you pitched yet?
I haven't watched I haven't seen anything. If you pitch yet,
(04:05):
are you going to pitch sooner? I threw that uh
in the first game against Great Britain UM and it
was awesome. I mean, just the atmosphere here for all
the games has been really cool, just to kind of
just take a step back and you know, realize what's
going on. Because you know, watching some of the WBC's
in the past, you you always see on TV how
electric it is and UM to be you know, on
(04:28):
the field and being there in person, it's it's it's
really cool. How many in these do they have backed
up for you? Do you have did they give you
something in advance? Are they going to use you for
the WBC? UM? Nothing like in particular. I think it's
just gonna you know, depend on you know, game situations
and stuff like that. But U being a reliever, I
feel like there's you know, selfishly, you know, aside from
(04:49):
you know, having the honor to where the USA, just
to be in this environment and there's I don't think
there's anything better to get ready for a season either. Yeah,
it's gonna definitely amp you up a little bit more quickly.
And did you throw a little bit more prior to
coming to the camp this year because of this, UM
just a little bit. You know, in the past couple
of years, I've been you know, coming to camp pretty
much ready to role. So this year really wasn't too
(05:11):
much different. It was nice house spring training worked out,
you know, being able to get like in the three
three or four games right before UM coming here, so uh,
you know, coming in ready to go and uh, you know,
ready to get some out and those kind of atmospheres.
Was was big, just kind of a typical lead into
the whole thing. So nothing, nothing unusual for you that. Yeah,
(05:31):
that's great, that's great. That's great. So David, hopefully you
haven't had to pick up any checks with this group,
because let's face it, there's a lot of zeros after
before the decimal point with these guys. UM, give me
an idea what it's like with this team the way
you bought it, and give me some insights if you
have any on when you're playing next to guys like Trout, Eronado, Goldschmid,
(05:54):
who you know are good players, but I'm sure you're
probably learning some things about why they're good players. Yeah,
without a doubt, I think that's that's one of the
coolest things about this whole experience. Obviously you see the
highlights all the time, but you know the sun behind
the seed stuff of you know, they're getting their work in,
They're they're incredibly dedicated to their craft, and you know
the fact that they're still you know, grinding every every
(06:16):
single day and you know, taking everything one pitch at
a time, and to see things from that perspective is
really cool and you know, really kind of it's like, Okay,
it makes sense. You know why they're they're so good
and they've been so good for such a long time.
So I think that's that's one of the biggest takeaways.
And uh, you know, it's cool to pick off everybody's
brain on the on the pitching side of you know,
(06:37):
how they how they've been able to you know, the
longevity of their careers and how are they able to
stay successful for so long? And who's your catch partner.
I'm always like intrigued by how guys find the way
that they pair up and they have a certain catch partner, right,
who is it for you in this group? Yeah, I've
been playing catch with Devin Williams, so um, you know,
(06:59):
it's great until we bust out that change up, and
I'm really I'm just fighting it off. So that is nasty. Man.
That thing just stops and drops. It's unbelievable. Oh man,
it really is unbelievable. It's just I don't even know
how to catch it. Well, what is your what you
you have a split for? What do you do though?
I mean I was watching it from the side that time.
What is your other pitch? A fastball, curveball and a splitter?
(07:23):
Is it a real split? I mean I could really
split your fingers pretty good almost to forkball or just slightly,
just a little bit. It's my hands aren't enormous. So
you know how how that came about was I was
in instructs one year and Daoomo was there and one
of our pitching coordinators kind of got me in touch
with him, and he's one of the ones that really
had a big influence. And then you know, when I
(07:44):
was coming up in the padre with the padres, uh,
you know, Kirby Yates was there, So it was I
had two really good resources to you know, just talk
splitters and get their mindset and just really pick their
brain about how they you know, how they went about it.
And you know, making those little minor adjustments throughout the game.
I had Kirby with the Rays, and Kirby didn't have
that early on. Kirby was pretty much fastball slider when
(08:05):
I first had him, and I always like Kirby. Kirby
was one of those top of the zone fastball guys,
get it above it and then really really good breaking ball.
He just had one bad team against the Royals. Uh
Savador Perez. It's a three run homer and the eighth
inning hits the left field foul pull at the trop
and everybody loses their mind. Kind of hurt his confidence
(08:25):
for a bit. But this guy, I've always I've always
been a big Kirby fan. I'm so happy for his success.
It's not about him, but I'm just saying it was.
It's curious that he eventually, I know, when he got
to that split change up, whatever that is, that just
turned him around completely. It was more predictable thing. He
gave him something to do more specifically with left handers.
You know, that's that's really where it could be a
(08:46):
difference maker. And you with you, it is that something
that you use the both sides. I don't tip anybody offers.
It's something that on the leftis because it's no it
just disappears. Man, it's a it's a great pitch. Yeah,
for sure. It's definitely something that you know, Um, I
was kind of missing. I didn't really have that middle
ground because my kurbolls relatively slow, and then you know,
I didn't have that harder slider and I could never
(09:07):
really get a feel for that. So it gave me
like a harder, breaking, breaking ball, and you know, it
turned into one of the reasons why I got an
opportunity at the big league level. And then, um, one
of the things that helped me now is I'm I'm
very confident to throw, you know, all three pitches to
both sides of the plate and whether it's left, the
righty or whatever. And I just I think just having
(09:28):
that confidence, and you know, whenever you throw multiple pitches
for strikes, you know, good, good things tend to happen. Yeah,
if you have that kind of package worth and working
on the both sides, that's a that's a different speaker
right there. And but y'all just having good stuff, having
the confidence to throw that stuff and knowing what you're
doing with it. I'm that's outstanding And what do you
When I saw I think you were like ninety five,
ninety sixty still pitching at that level? Is that your fastball? Yeah?
(09:49):
Right around there. I think like usually like ninety six
ninety seven was the past a year or two. I
kind of had a little bit of a jump in
in the past couple of years. I'm gonna have to
pay attention more this year. I mean with Shelfy and
you know, I listened after I got let go by
the Angels. Last year, all I did was golf, garden
and grill. That's all he did. And then and then
at the end of the year, Tommy and I started
doing some stuff like this regarding playoff games. So I
(10:11):
started watching more visually. But I will watch this year.
I'm serious, man, I loved your stuff. You're gonna be
good for a long period of time. The Split's going
to be a big difference maker for you. And I'm
glad to hear that you have that much confidence in
all of it. Yeah, thank you, Shelseys the man. Yeah,
I mean, here's my hitting coach. For several years, we
had a really good time. I kind of have a
ten to have a good time. I think that I
think that's what I laned at Lafayet having a good time. Yeah,
(10:33):
without a doubt. Well, I want to I want to
talk to him about his v low because I don't
want to short change of David, because I don't know
if you officially hit one hundred, but I know you've
got it up there at least on the scoreboard and
triple digits. So I want to dive into We're gonna
take a quick break, but we get back how you
developed velocity and the path for David Bednar goes from
(10:54):
Mars a Lafayette. We'll explain that when we get back.
All Right, we're here with David Bednar from Yeah, I said,
Mars Mars High School outside at Pittsburgh, PA. Fighting Planet
(11:15):
and the mascot David is the Fighting Planet. Oh my goodness,
what do your unis look like? You actually have a
planet on it? Like the Solar System. There's yeah, there's
a little there's a little planet on there. And it's
funny because I didn't. I never thought anything of it until, like,
you know, I got to college, and you know, when
I was playing pro ball and guys asking, you know,
figuring out where you go to high school? And it's like, oh,
(11:36):
made a big deal of it. I just never really
thought of it. And funny enough, there's a there's a
school right down the road Moon, So you know, whatever
Mars played Moon, there was a little intergalactic battle. I
don't want to bore you guys right now, but a
lady midwife from Mars Pa birth my daughter Sarah, and
I'll just leave it as a small person I've ever
(11:57):
heard from Mars Pennsylvania. I want one of those Mars hats.
Many planet we can make that happen. That'd be a
great golf listen. I will wear that on a golf course.
I don't think USC and Arizona State were beaten down
the door to find David when he's a senior at
Mars and your dad was your coach, right, yeah, Mars,
Yeah exactly, he's been. He's been my coach for a
(12:18):
long time, and he was the high school coach at
the time and still is very involved with you know,
Mars athletics and Mars baseball as a whole. That's awesome.
As a son of a coach myself, I had tremendous
respect for coaches, sons and just I always thinking, of course,
on prejudice. They do get a true education on what
goes on without kind of behind the scene. So good
(12:39):
on you. So you did have I guess some smaller
D one schools and D two schools. Tell me the
story about how you wound up off yet. Yeah, so
you know, I didn't throw very hard in high school
at all, and you know, trying to have a lot
of the college recruiting path was like I just had
a lot of heartbreak, a lot of schools being like,
you know what, it's all right, but you know, if
you throw just a little bit harder, you know, it
(13:00):
was just never, never quite there. So yeah, eventually had
like two Division two offers and Lafayette was like one
of two kind of Division one offers. But yeah, all
it all kind of stemmed from, you know, coach Kenney
was at Lafaye at the time and he came out
to Pittsburgh. It was like a cold October morning. I
threw a bullpen just on some local high school field,
(13:23):
and you know, right after that, I was like, you
know what, it's all right. And then right after that
he offered, and you know, I was like, let's do it.
So that's that was the path of Lafayette, and you know,
I was just so thankful for the opportunity to be
able to play there because you know, one of the
things that really jumped out at me at Lafayette was
the combination of Division one athletics and then also just
(13:44):
a very strong, very good academic So you know, those
two things were very important to me, and Lafayette definitely
both checked both those boxes. Great facilities start taught me
by the way, and then the football. I love the
football stadium. I love the way that sits Fisher Fields
is done in a bowl, very unique, It's very cool. Yeah.
I love that. I actually played one season there and
(14:04):
and then out at Metzger Fields. It done a nice
job out there, really picking that up, the clubhouses and
the whole thing about it. Man, I know I'm biased, Okay,
I am in a sense, but I love going back there.
I love hanging out there and going back again this fall.
Got to know like the administration really well. But I
understand what he's talking about. It's a great balance of athletics,
(14:25):
and I mean that academics and then of course athletics.
It's beautiful. So, David, you mentioned the v low You're
probably throwing I guess mid eighties in high school, right,
you get to Lafayette and by the time you get
drafted in twenty sixteen, you're in the low nineties. Now,
talk about the progression, because it wasn't long after he
became a pro you got up to you know, ninety three,
(14:47):
thirty four, ninety five. Everybody's looking for velocity, right, and
everybody wants a quick hack to get there, and I
know it was not the case for you as a
quick hack. Talk about the way you develop velocity. Yeah,
I think one of the things is it's it's there's
everybody is looking like you said, everybody's looking for that
magic bullet, and you know, in my experience there, there
really isn't one. It's that long process. And I think
(15:09):
you kind of have to fall in love with the process.
And uh, I think, you know, when as soon as
I got to college, it was kind of that mindset
of had such a great opportunity to uh, you know,
play there, and I took made most of it, and
I you know, I spent a lot of time in
the weight room, a lot of time long tossing. But
you know, back to the process part, it was never
like kind of instant gratification. You get little tidbits here
(15:31):
and there, but you know, it was more of the
just doing a little bit each day. It would show
up kind of later in the year, later in the summer.
But yeah, in college, it's definitely more of the meathead
mantrav you know, more, more is better, trying to lift
the house and all that stuff, which is great at
the time, you know, I was really strong and everything
like that, and then once I got to pro ball
(15:53):
kind of shifted to, you know, the more of the
mobility stuff, the functional stuff. So but you know, I
think one you couldn't do one without the other because
without that good base of of you know, weight room, strong. Uh,
you know, I don't think the functional stuff works as well.
So I've been fortunate to have a lot of great
string coaches throughout my career and who have really helped
(16:13):
me take it to the next level and show me,
you know, a lot of different routines and different workouts
and stuff like that to just be able to stay
on top of it. Tell me as as a young
scout back in the day too, I used to call
us to Scouts Colorado and like all the colder climates
as well, as of course where David comes from in Pennsylvania.
I've always wanted those big, strong guys from those cold
(16:35):
weather stakes. Was always thought there was more in the tank.
A lot of stuff had not been developed at that point.
He has not thrown that much. I mean the seasons
are like fifteen sixteen games. You're playing the snow sometimes
oh yeah, and then you go out, you go out there,
you go out in the summertime and you might play
three days a week and then but you're working while
you're playing, and it's it's really hard from a baseball perspective,
Like in northeastern Pennsylvania or in western Pennsylvania, it really
(16:57):
developed those kind of attributes. Did you did you play football?
David too? Did you do that or wasn't that required exactly?
It was definitely a prerecord Western Pa. Yeah, I played
through through high school. Yeah, I mean there's there's' that's
my point. I mean, I always wanted those cold weather
big guys pictures, and I would project on them a
little bit more. I could talk about for nus in
(17:19):
Colorado state, of course, I saw big garrel akerfields out
there from Colorado. Even Roy Holliday Holiday was from that
particular area out there, and all these guys were like
under the radar guys for a bit, but they were
big strong, Rick Aguilara. All these guys were big, strong
guys that were under the radar early and then all
of a sudden poom they'd take off as they get
(17:41):
older and their bodies to bl up. Where then they
get some you know, a mentor instructor that really could
smooth their mechanics out a little bit, give them a
better idea. But the climate conspires against you, But in
the long run, I think it actually helps you. I agree.
I agree with that for sure. Yeah, there used to
be an old line among scouts. You probably heard of, Joe,
the best thing for a young pitcher is a good snowfall.
(18:04):
You know, I get them inside playing basketball or doing
other sports that just throwing twelve months a year. So
I've never heard that, but I like that. David got
drafted by listen to these numbers, but David gets drafted
in the thirty fifth round. Okay, this is twenty sixteen,
one thousand, forty fourth player drafted. Now, just to give
(18:24):
you an idea, what the odds are here if you
get drafted first of all, there is no thirty fifth
round anymore. They cut it off at twenty. If you
get drafted back in the day after the twentieth round,
you have a ninety five percent chance of not playing
a day in the major leagues. Okay, so that's the
kind of odds that you face. So, David, where did
(18:45):
you get the belief that this was going to work
out for you? Because I'm sure you have mentors, teachers,
family people saying you can do it, But to me,
it can't go anywhere unless you have that inner belief.
So where did that come from? As you get into
the pro ball and you see these guys with Big
Bonus's first round picks and you think you're on equal
ground with them. Yeah, without doubt, it was definitely a
(19:06):
daunting task. Um, you know, at first, I wasn't even
thinking really about that. It was you know, I was
just so grateful for the opportunity to play professional baseball
and keep it going, and I just kind of put
my head down and kept grinding every single day. And
the Padres kind of made it pretty clear that if
you get out, you'll you'll always have an opportunity, and
(19:26):
you know, didn't matter where you were, and you know
I kind of took that to heart. I just kind
of you kind of look up, look up, look back
now and thinking, man, like just just wow. It's definitely
been a crazy journey. And you know, it wasn't probably
until I was backing up a big League game and
you know, I think I had like a strikeout or
two and had some success in that. I was like, okay, like,
(19:48):
so my stuff. You know, I can actually pitch these
guys to get these guys out. And then it's you know,
once you have that internal belief and that confidence, it's
it's kind of contagious and you kind of success kind
of breed success, and you kind of keep a domino
effect rolling and then next seeing you know, you kind
of keep climbing throughout the system, keep getting outs, and
they're turned into an opportunity to be a September call
(20:11):
up in twenty nineteen, he just described level three right there, Tommy,
I belong here. I can do this. They've got five
levels of being a professional. You know, you arrive at
that point you go through happy to be here. Man,
I'm happy to be your level one level two survival.
I really dig to someone to stay here. But your
mind is all over the place, and then finally you
wake up one day, you go out there, you look around,
and you get out on the mound. You pitch well,
(20:33):
but you look around him and everybody around. You said
to yourself, man, I can do this. I don't care
I belong to I can do this with this group.
And that's when you have a chance to take off.
But you have to arrive at that point. Otherwise it's
going to be this ephemeral thing. You're going to go
up and down, up and down. You don't really believe it.
Of the moment you believe it, Man, all that stuff
you've got inside you comes to the forefront nextually become
really good. I was thinking of that without a doubt.
(20:55):
It's it's it's really that the confidence that you know,
really allowed me to you know that, the belief that, Okay, yeah,
my stuff plays, I can I can get really anybody out.
And then you know, you kind of take that and
run with it absolutely and then lo and behold. In
twenty twenty one, he gets traded by the Padres and
the Joe Musgrove deal, and where does the fighting planet go?
(21:17):
He's going back home to Pittsburgh. I mean, what was that,
like David and sharing that news with your family unbelievable. Um,
you know, I still have to pinch myself, you know,
every day getting to go and walk in the Pirate
clubhouse and you know, seeing all the jerseys because I
was I was a huge Buco fan growing up. So
now to be a part of it is I don't
(21:38):
want to, you know, be a dead horse, but it's
it's it's it's truly unbelievable and I'm so blessed to
have that opportunity and it really is awesome and amazing.
And yeah, I initially found out on Twitter and I
almost didn't want to believe it because I don't want
to get my hopes up and have something not fall through.
And then the next day I got a call and
saying it was official, So then, you know, it was
just just incredible. You know, my whole family was just
(22:01):
incredibly pumped up, and my wife, my family, Y'll can
just drive twenty minutes down to PNC instead of you know,
hopping on flights and to come see me. So that
that's been just unbelievable. I love the bird and I
love that ballpark. That ballpark I think is one of
the top five and I was baseball. They nailed it.
They absolutely nailed it. I've never seen the home side clubhouse.
(22:22):
Visiting site clubhouses is really good enough. But when you
walk out there, man, it's like it's it's due. But
it's a taste of the old. The way they have
the bridges set up out there, you get the skyline.
I love riding my bike up and down the river there.
I go by the Hinds, catch up plant, and I
go through to some kind of Greek church up on
a hill. I just love the vibe there. I love
the burg and I could see as a young major
(22:43):
League baseball player coming from that area, it's gotta be
gotta be really exciting on a nightly basis. Oh, without
a doubt. I mean, really do have to pinch myself
cool man. Hey David, we're talking about you know where
you got drafted, and we should point out your brother
Will was a first down draft pick. That's been a
lot of fun going back and forth about about that
(23:05):
being being a first rounder and everything like that. Ye
Will is in the Giants organization. How's he doing? What's
ahead for him this year? He's doing well? He uh,
he was banged up a little bit last year, but
you know, he's he's starting to throw again here shortly,
and I know, I'm excited for him and the opportunity
he has with the Giants now to you know, his
(23:26):
stuff's nasty. I mean, he won the College World Series
and was a big part of that. So that was
a lot of fun to watch him. And it's been
really cool to see him progress as a you know,
as a as a baseball player, and you know, watching
him grow and it's it's really special because you know,
he's very talented, he works hard, and uh, you know,
really the sky's the limit for him. And speaking of
(23:49):
the skies the limit, We're gonna take a quick break
finish up with David Bednar and I'm gonna ask him
about what's ahead for the Buckos. To Pittsburgh Pirates. Welcome
back to the Book of Joe podcast. Our guest is
(24:09):
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher at Team USA. Picture David Bednar. David,
we talked about the Pirates. We can see some of
the young talent coming up. O'Neil crue is just amazing.
The year that Brian Raylds had establishing himself as one
of the stars of the game. Give me a vibe
of if you're a Pirates fan and you see some
of the signs that things are starting to turn a
(24:30):
corner here, give me a sense of how quickly it
might happen, and what do you feel being around this
group of guys. Oh man, there's there's definitely a different
vibe this year going into screen training, and you know,
I think everybody's really feeling it, and you know, everybody's
really bought into you know, obviously everybody's bought into winning,
but it's it's I think it's more as real now.
(24:51):
It's it's it's attainable because there's so much young talent
and adding some veteran adding some veterans to help, you know,
speed that process up a little bit is really special.
And it's really cool because you know everybody's looking to
take that next step forward and you know, individually and
collectively as a team, and you know, we have some
exciting baseball and store in Pittsburgh. I mean, I said,
you have to get to that ascension process and once
(25:13):
there's really something to be said about learning how to
win and learning how to win on the major league
A level, there's going to be some short term goals met,
and that you have to do that before you reach
your long term goals. You have to have those short
term goals met. And I don't know, like that's winning
each month. I was into winning the week, winning the month.
From my perspective, you've got to chase the dudes in
(25:34):
front of you, like within your division. For the Cubs
it was the Cardinals, of course, and with the Rays,
it was the Yankees and the Red Sox and Matt
I just I would just get so jacked up when
we played those teams, and you played the better teams,
but you've got you've got to get to them. You've
got to be able to shake hands on their mom
on their field after victory, after the ninth inning, and
when you start doing that consistently, then you start believing it.
(25:55):
But that's part of the ascension process. But there is
something to be said when it's it's kind of hard
to define, like learning how to win, learning how to
win pretty much as each guy, your team itself, really
having a common culture, a common method of doing this thing,
and then there's a strong believability that you're gonna win
on that night. It's not like, ah, maybe we're gonna win. No,
(26:17):
we're gonna win. We're gonna win to it, We're gonna
beat these guys somehow and having a planner method to
do that. And No, I like your young guys too.
I think it's great. Like I said, Shelty and the boys.
I know Andy Hayes really well too. I mean there's
there's a lot of guys there in a chat and
Noble the roping catching instructor. I mean, a lot of
cup guys involvement there. But there's a believability that you
have to You can't think you do. You gotta believe
(26:38):
you do. And sometimes you have to convince yourself with
that and eventually you learn how to win without a doubt.
It's almost like the fake a teammake it thing, right,
you believe, you gotta believe it. If you believe it,
you'll see it. It's not to see it and believe it.
You gotta believe it to see it. That's a Wayne
dire gig and I've always thought that. I used to
tell my players that in order you have to believe
it to see it, and so I think believing comes first.
(26:59):
About Well, it's been a blast, David. I mean, one
of the things I love about w BC is Yeah,
there's a lot of stars there, but it also gives
the stage, to let's face it, some players who haven't
gotten into that postseason limelight, maybe not being well known.
And I think you've jumped out. I know you've pitched
that one game against Great Britain, but I know even
people around the team have been impressed with your stuff
(27:20):
seeing it up close, and hopefully fans to get a
chance to check you out and keep it up. Man.
This Team USA has been a rock and roll ride
and hopefully it's a long run all the way to
the finish. So really appreciate your time. Thank you guys
for having me. He's a great talk with you, guys.
It was a pleasure to visit with David bednar Joet
not just because he went to Lafayette, but I love
(27:41):
his story. I mean, you think about a guy drafted
him the thirty fifth round with probably below average velocity
at the time, or maybe average velocity, and here he
is an All star pitcher, He's closing for the Pirate's
his hometown team, He's pitching for Team USA. It's just
a great story and as you can hear talking to David,
just a great guy as well. Yeah, definitely the dream
come true situation. Bail your surrealism's come true coming from
(28:04):
a small town in Pennsylvania and get it. I love
the idea that he's close, his family's close to the ballparkers,
they're going to make that trek off in those beautiful
Pennsylvania nights, and what that means to that entire family,
and him telling a man i've seen him, Pich, this
guy's good. It's not just okay, it's good. And it's
like I said earlier, to the fact that he did
(28:24):
not throw that much coming up because you just can't.
You just can't throw that much in Pennsylvania, Western or
Eastern Pennsylvania. The springs he kind of saved your arm
a little bit. But it sounds like he's got great
inner strength. And again, I'm looking forward to getting to
know him better when we get back to campus in
the offseason. That thanks for getting him on, because that
was all you and I really appreciate it. That too, well,
I can tell you too, Joe that in talkative coaching
(28:47):
staff of Team USA, because let's face it, they haven't
seen him up close, they're blown away by his stuff.
I mean this guy has elite stuff, high nineties velocity,
the breaking ball, the split. He's not afraid to throw
any of those pitches at any point of account. So hey, listen.
He's one of those guys to me that has jumped
out early the WBC that if you didn't know David Bednar,
(29:11):
you'd better get to know him because he's a force
in the game. That's what I thought the first time
I saw him. I said, who is that? And then
they said David Bednar. Okay, good, and then somebody says
it's from Loafiet. I said, really, and then it became
even more interested. Good for him, believe for him. All Right,
mister Laffiet, you got something to take us out here
to finish up Lafayette Day on the book of Joe,
(29:32):
I should have something from the marquee himself, right, Yeah,
but this is like perfect for all that. I don't
I can't believe I messed that up. This is from
Phil Jackson, one of our favorites, and it really applies
to everything we've just been talking about. The strength of
the team is each individual member, and the strength of
each member is the team. Love that stuff. You're talking
(29:52):
to him. You could see the team Warrior orientation about him.
You've been talking about Team USA and everybody's so proud
to wear the uniform and compete against everybody else. So
the strength of each remember is the team. I love that,
mister Phil Jackson. Do we have it? Very nice? Worked
out pretty well for Phil. He went a little bit.
Yeah he did. Okay, it doesn't hurt to have Michael
(30:15):
Jordan on your side. But you know, I've always I
tried to get I try to get together with Phil
a couple of times. It's not easy, but I've always
been a big fan. Yeah. Well, this has been fun.
And for those of you who haven't checked out any
of the WBC again, you got to check it out, folks.
I know there's a lot going on with March Madness
and your teams in spring training, but the star power,
(30:37):
the passion of these games, it's it's really baseball. It's
best the way that it's played. So make sure you
check it out. See you next time, Joe, Nice, Pure Forum,
Thank your brother, See you later, man. The Book of
Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
(30:59):
for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts
The Book of Joe Podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey there, welcome back to the Book of Joe podcast.
We'd like to call it the most interesting and unpredictable
baseball podcast that's out there. You never know who's going
to show up. I am Tom Berducci. Of course, Joe
(00:26):
Madden is with me again and our special guest Joe.
It's kind of Loffyett College day around here. I mean,
we couldn't get Stephen Crane on account that he died
nineteen hundred. He also skipped out of school after one semester.
So we have David Benner, All Star Closer and member
of Team USA in the WBC. So we got two
(00:51):
Leopards on the show today. Joe, you can't get better
than that man. You know when you brought up that
you were going to get you had a chance to
get David on the show, and we were just talking
prior to coming on. I was at the homecoming last
year and there a coach there, a J. Miller. I
was asking him about David. He could not make it.
He just told us why because he had just gotten married.
But I've been wanting to meet this guy. Truth be
(01:12):
Told twenty twenty and the parties are we not what
the Angels play? You? An exhibition game of some kind? Yeah,
exactly at your ballpark, right. And that's the first time
I first time I saw him thrown. I didn't know
you were a Leopard at that time, and I said,
I asked me, who is that? I mean, who is that?
I really liked the arm a lot, and then I
(01:33):
brought it up a couple other times with different people,
and nobody really researched you enough. I'm listened. Man, that
first time I saw you throw a baseball, I don't
care if you're from Lafayette or from Moravian, Muhlenberg, any
of any of the Lehigh Valley schools. That was impressive.
So it's great to meet you finally. And I you're
playing in Pittsburgh with my boy Shelty, and I'll shut
(01:55):
up for right now, but man, it's great to have
you on board. Oh man, thank you guys for having me.
It's you know, thanks for having me. It's a definitely
an honor, and that's a that's a big confident coming
from me. I'm serious, man. Yeah, you're gonna have a
long career to stay well. Do all your little jobs
and all the exercises after you throw. Make sure you
take care of your stuff. Macer, you can play for
a while. That stuff's that good. Thank you appreciate that. Yeah,
(02:16):
we're gonna get into David's story. Besides the Lafayette it's
a fascinating background because we're talking about somebody not just
coming out of it. Let's face it, not a huge
baseball powerhouse on the baseball map, but thirty fifth round me,
my holy Infield played pro ball, the holy Field from
the d nineteen seventy three fourteen at least we played
pro ball, and this guy is now on Team USA.
(02:41):
I want to start there, David, because I've been following
the games obviously, the atmosphere is just tremendous. If anybody
hasn't checked out any WBC game, especially Team USA, you
have to check it out. So, David, I gotta ask
you being part of this group here when your buddy's
back home, family members asking you, Hey, what's it like
(03:01):
playing with this Team USA. It's essentially all star team.
What do you tell them? I mean, honestly, it's just unreal. Uh,
you know, just being being around those group of guys
is really special. You just kind of take a look
around the locker room and you see the talent from
top to bottom. It's you know, it's it's a it's
an incredible group to be around, and I'm just trying
to soak in, you know, every every moment, every opportunity
(03:22):
I have, and just try and make the most of it,
because it truly is unbelievable. David, how did the invite
come about? You know, I we had our actually like
we had like a meeting with our GM Ben and
Shelty at the end of the last year, and they
kind of brought it up to me, and uh, you know,
obviously I was very interested, and you know, they're they've
been very supportive about the whole time, so, you know,
(03:43):
and then probably three weeks after they brought up to me,
is whenever I found out I was officially on the squad.
Is it's it's really humbling and a huge honor to
be a part of that group and you know, have
the opportunity to where you you know, USA across the chest.
It's it's it's really special, and you know, I'm incredibly
thankful for it for it. Have you have you pitched yet?
I haven't watched I haven't seen anything. If you pitch yet,
(04:05):
are you going to pitch sooner? I threw that uh
in the first game against Great Britain UM and it
was awesome. I mean, just the atmosphere here for all
the games has been really cool, just to kind of
just take a step back and you know, realize what's
going on. Because you know, watching some of the WBC's
in the past, you you always see on TV how
electric it is and UM to be you know, on
(04:28):
the field and being there in person, it's it's it's
really cool. How many in these do they have backed
up for you? Do you have did they give you
something in advance? Are they going to use you for
the WBC? UM? Nothing like in particular. I think it's
just gonna you know, depend on you know, game situations
and stuff like that. But U being a reliever, I
feel like there's you know, selfishly, you know, aside from
(04:49):
you know, having the honor to where the USA, just
to be in this environment and there's I don't think
there's anything better to get ready for a season either. Yeah,
it's gonna definitely amp you up a little bit more quickly.
And did you throw a little bit more prior to
coming to the camp this year because of this, UM
just a little bit. You know, in the past couple
of years, I've been you know, coming to camp pretty
much ready to role. So this year really wasn't too
(05:11):
much different. It was nice house spring training worked out,
you know, being able to get like in the three
three or four games right before UM coming here, so uh,
you know, coming in ready to go and uh, you know,
ready to get some out and those kind of atmospheres.
Was was big, just kind of a typical lead into
the whole thing. So nothing, nothing unusual for you that. Yeah,
(05:31):
that's great, that's great. That's great. So David, hopefully you
haven't had to pick up any checks with this group,
because let's face it, there's a lot of zeros after
before the decimal point with these guys. UM, give me
an idea what it's like with this team the way
you bought it, and give me some insights if you
have any on when you're playing next to guys like Trout, Eronado, Goldschmid,
(05:54):
who you know are good players, but I'm sure you're
probably learning some things about why they're good players. Yeah,
without a doubt, I think that's that's one of the
coolest things about this whole experience. Obviously you see the
highlights all the time, but you know the sun behind
the seed stuff of you know, they're getting their work in,
They're they're incredibly dedicated to their craft, and you know
the fact that they're still you know, grinding every every
(06:16):
single day and you know, taking everything one pitch at
a time, and to see things from that perspective is
really cool and you know, really kind of it's like, Okay,
it makes sense. You know why they're they're so good
and they've been so good for such a long time.
So I think that's that's one of the biggest takeaways.
And uh, you know, it's cool to pick off everybody's
brain on the on the pitching side of you know,
(06:37):
how they how they've been able to you know, the
longevity of their careers and how are they able to
stay successful for so long? And who's your catch partner.
I'm always like intrigued by how guys find the way
that they pair up and they have a certain catch partner, right,
who is it for you in this group? Yeah, I've
been playing catch with Devin Williams, so um, you know,
(06:59):
it's great until we bust out that change up, and
I'm really I'm just fighting it off. So that is nasty. Man.
That thing just stops and drops. It's unbelievable. Oh man,
it really is unbelievable. It's just I don't even know
how to catch it. Well, what is your what you
you have a split for? What do you do though?
I mean I was watching it from the side that time.
What is your other pitch? A fastball, curveball and a splitter?
(07:23):
Is it a real split? I mean I could really
split your fingers pretty good almost to forkball or just slightly,
just a little bit. It's my hands aren't enormous. So
you know how how that came about was I was
in instructs one year and Daoomo was there and one
of our pitching coordinators kind of got me in touch
with him, and he's one of the ones that really
had a big influence. And then you know, when I
(07:44):
was coming up in the padre with the padres, uh,
you know, Kirby Yates was there, So it was I
had two really good resources to you know, just talk
splitters and get their mindset and just really pick their
brain about how they you know, how they went about it.
And you know, making those little minor adjustments throughout the game.
I had Kirby with the Rays, and Kirby didn't have
that early on. Kirby was pretty much fastball slider when
(08:05):
I first had him, and I always like Kirby. Kirby
was one of those top of the zone fastball guys,
get it above it and then really really good breaking ball.
He just had one bad team against the Royals. Uh
Savador Perez. It's a three run homer and the eighth
inning hits the left field foul pull at the trop
and everybody loses their mind. Kind of hurt his confidence
(08:25):
for a bit. But this guy, I've always I've always
been a big Kirby fan. I'm so happy for his success.
It's not about him, but I'm just saying it was.
It's curious that he eventually, I know, when he got
to that split change up, whatever that is, that just
turned him around completely. It was more predictable thing. He
gave him something to do more specifically with left handers.
You know, that's that's really where it could be a
(08:46):
difference maker. And you with you, it is that something
that you use the both sides. I don't tip anybody offers.
It's something that on the leftis because it's no it
just disappears. Man, it's a it's a great pitch. Yeah,
for sure. It's definitely something that you know, Um, I
was kind of missing. I didn't really have that middle
ground because my kurbolls relatively slow, and then you know,
I didn't have that harder slider and I could never
(09:07):
really get a feel for that. So it gave me
like a harder, breaking, breaking ball, and you know, it
turned into one of the reasons why I got an
opportunity at the big league level. And then, um, one
of the things that helped me now is I'm I'm
very confident to throw, you know, all three pitches to
both sides of the plate and whether it's left, the
righty or whatever. And I just I think just having
(09:28):
that confidence, and you know, whenever you throw multiple pitches
for strikes, you know, good, good things tend to happen. Yeah,
if you have that kind of package worth and working
on the both sides, that's a that's a different speaker
right there. And but y'all just having good stuff, having
the confidence to throw that stuff and knowing what you're
doing with it. I'm that's outstanding And what do you
When I saw I think you were like ninety five,
ninety sixty still pitching at that level? Is that your fastball? Yeah?
(09:49):
Right around there. I think like usually like ninety six
ninety seven was the past a year or two. I
kind of had a little bit of a jump in
in the past couple of years. I'm gonna have to
pay attention more this year. I mean with Shelfy and
you know, I listened after I got let go by
the Angels. Last year, all I did was golf, garden
and grill. That's all he did. And then and then
at the end of the year, Tommy and I started
doing some stuff like this regarding playoff games. So I
(10:11):
started watching more visually. But I will watch this year.
I'm serious, man, I loved your stuff. You're gonna be
good for a long period of time. The Split's going
to be a big difference maker for you. And I'm
glad to hear that you have that much confidence in
all of it. Yeah, thank you, Shelseys the man. Yeah,
I mean, here's my hitting coach. For several years, we
had a really good time. I kind of have a
ten to have a good time. I think that I
think that's what I laned at Lafayet having a good time. Yeah,
(10:33):
without a doubt. Well, I want to I want to
talk to him about his v low because I don't
want to short change of David, because I don't know
if you officially hit one hundred, but I know you've
got it up there at least on the scoreboard and
triple digits. So I want to dive into We're gonna
take a quick break, but we get back how you
developed velocity and the path for David Bednar goes from
(10:54):
Mars a Lafayette. We'll explain that when we get back.
All Right, we're here with David Bednar from Yeah, I said,
Mars Mars High School outside at Pittsburgh, PA. Fighting Planet
(11:15):
and the mascot David is the Fighting Planet. Oh my goodness,
what do your unis look like? You actually have a
planet on it? Like the Solar System. There's yeah, there's
a little there's a little planet on there. And it's
funny because I didn't. I never thought anything of it until, like,
you know, I got to college, and you know, when
I was playing pro ball and guys asking, you know,
figuring out where you go to high school? And it's like, oh,
(11:36):
made a big deal of it. I just never really
thought of it. And funny enough, there's a there's a
school right down the road Moon, So you know, whatever
Mars played Moon, there was a little intergalactic battle. I
don't want to bore you guys right now, but a
lady midwife from Mars Pa birth my daughter Sarah, and
I'll just leave it as a small person I've ever
(11:57):
heard from Mars Pennsylvania. I want one of those Mars hats.
Many planet we can make that happen. That'd be a
great golf listen. I will wear that on a golf course.
I don't think USC and Arizona State were beaten down
the door to find David when he's a senior at
Mars and your dad was your coach, right, yeah, Mars,
Yeah exactly, he's been. He's been my coach for a
(12:18):
long time, and he was the high school coach at
the time and still is very involved with you know,
Mars athletics and Mars baseball as a whole. That's awesome.
As a son of a coach myself, I had tremendous
respect for coaches, sons and just I always thinking, of course,
on prejudice. They do get a true education on what
goes on without kind of behind the scene. So good
(12:39):
on you. So you did have I guess some smaller
D one schools and D two schools. Tell me the
story about how you wound up off yet. Yeah, so
you know, I didn't throw very hard in high school
at all, and you know, trying to have a lot
of the college recruiting path was like I just had
a lot of heartbreak, a lot of schools being like,
you know what, it's all right, but you know, if
you throw just a little bit harder, you know, it
(13:00):
was just never, never quite there. So yeah, eventually had
like two Division two offers and Lafayette was like one
of two kind of Division one offers. But yeah, all
it all kind of stemmed from, you know, coach Kenney
was at Lafaye at the time and he came out
to Pittsburgh. It was like a cold October morning. I
threw a bullpen just on some local high school field,
(13:23):
and you know, right after that, I was like, you
know what, it's all right. And then right after that
he offered, and you know, I was like, let's do it.
So that's that was the path of Lafayette, and you know,
I was just so thankful for the opportunity to be
able to play there because you know, one of the
things that really jumped out at me at Lafayette was
the combination of Division one athletics and then also just
(13:44):
a very strong, very good academic So you know, those
two things were very important to me, and Lafayette definitely
both checked both those boxes. Great facilities start taught me
by the way, and then the football. I love the
football stadium. I love the way that sits Fisher Fields
is done in a bowl, very unique, It's very cool. Yeah.
I love that. I actually played one season there and
(14:04):
and then out at Metzger Fields. It done a nice
job out there, really picking that up, the clubhouses and
the whole thing about it. Man, I know I'm biased, Okay,
I am in a sense, but I love going back there.
I love hanging out there and going back again this fall.
Got to know like the administration really well. But I
understand what he's talking about. It's a great balance of athletics,
(14:25):
and I mean that academics and then of course athletics.
It's beautiful. So, David, you mentioned the v low You're
probably throwing I guess mid eighties in high school, right,
you get to Lafayette and by the time you get
drafted in twenty sixteen, you're in the low nineties. Now,
talk about the progression, because it wasn't long after he
became a pro you got up to you know, ninety three,
(14:47):
thirty four, ninety five. Everybody's looking for velocity, right, and
everybody wants a quick hack to get there, and I
know it was not the case for you as a
quick hack. Talk about the way you develop velocity. Yeah,
I think one of the things is it's it's there's
everybody is looking like you said, everybody's looking for that
magic bullet, and you know, in my experience there, there
really isn't one. It's that long process. And I think
(15:09):
you kind of have to fall in love with the process.
And uh, I think, you know, when as soon as
I got to college, it was kind of that mindset
of had such a great opportunity to uh, you know,
play there, and I took made most of it, and
I you know, I spent a lot of time in
the weight room, a lot of time long tossing. But
you know, back to the process part, it was never
like kind of instant gratification. You get little tidbits here
(15:31):
and there, but you know, it was more of the
just doing a little bit each day. It would show
up kind of later in the year, later in the summer.
But yeah, in college, it's definitely more of the meathead
mantrav you know, more, more is better, trying to lift
the house and all that stuff, which is great at
the time, you know, I was really strong and everything
like that, and then once I got to pro ball
(15:53):
kind of shifted to, you know, the more of the
mobility stuff, the functional stuff. So but you know, I
think one you couldn't do one without the other because
without that good base of of you know, weight room, strong. Uh,
you know, I don't think the functional stuff works as well.
So I've been fortunate to have a lot of great
string coaches throughout my career and who have really helped
(16:13):
me take it to the next level and show me,
you know, a lot of different routines and different workouts
and stuff like that to just be able to stay
on top of it. Tell me as as a young
scout back in the day too, I used to call
us to Scouts Colorado and like all the colder climates
as well, as of course where David comes from in Pennsylvania.
I've always wanted those big, strong guys from those cold
(16:35):
weather stakes. Was always thought there was more in the tank.
A lot of stuff had not been developed at that point.
He has not thrown that much. I mean the seasons
are like fifteen sixteen games. You're playing the snow sometimes
oh yeah, and then you go out, you go out there,
you go out in the summertime and you might play
three days a week and then but you're working while
you're playing, and it's it's really hard from a baseball perspective,
Like in northeastern Pennsylvania or in western Pennsylvania, it really
(16:57):
developed those kind of attributes. Did you did you play football?
David too? Did you do that or wasn't that required exactly?
It was definitely a prerecord Western Pa. Yeah, I played
through through high school. Yeah, I mean there's there's' that's
my point. I mean, I always wanted those cold weather
big guys pictures, and I would project on them a
little bit more. I could talk about for nus in
(17:19):
Colorado state, of course, I saw big garrel akerfields out
there from Colorado. Even Roy Holliday Holiday was from that
particular area out there, and all these guys were like
under the radar guys for a bit, but they were
big strong, Rick Aguilara. All these guys were big, strong
guys that were under the radar early and then all
of a sudden poom they'd take off as they get
(17:41):
older and their bodies to bl up. Where then they
get some you know, a mentor instructor that really could
smooth their mechanics out a little bit, give them a
better idea. But the climate conspires against you, But in
the long run, I think it actually helps you. I agree.
I agree with that for sure. Yeah, there used to
be an old line among scouts. You probably heard of, Joe,
the best thing for a young pitcher is a good snowfall.
(18:04):
You know, I get them inside playing basketball or doing
other sports that just throwing twelve months a year. So
I've never heard that, but I like that. David got
drafted by listen to these numbers, but David gets drafted
in the thirty fifth round. Okay, this is twenty sixteen,
one thousand, forty fourth player drafted. Now, just to give
(18:24):
you an idea, what the odds are here if you
get drafted first of all, there is no thirty fifth
round anymore. They cut it off at twenty. If you
get drafted back in the day after the twentieth round,
you have a ninety five percent chance of not playing
a day in the major leagues. Okay, so that's the
kind of odds that you face. So, David, where did
(18:45):
you get the belief that this was going to work
out for you? Because I'm sure you have mentors, teachers,
family people saying you can do it, But to me,
it can't go anywhere unless you have that inner belief.
So where did that come from? As you get into
the pro ball and you see these guys with Big
Bonus's first round picks and you think you're on equal
ground with them. Yeah, without doubt, it was definitely a
(19:06):
daunting task. Um, you know, at first, I wasn't even
thinking really about that. It was you know, I was
just so grateful for the opportunity to play professional baseball
and keep it going, and I just kind of put
my head down and kept grinding every single day. And
the Padres kind of made it pretty clear that if
you get out, you'll you'll always have an opportunity, and
(19:26):
you know, didn't matter where you were, and you know
I kind of took that to heart. I just kind
of you kind of look up, look up, look back
now and thinking, man, like just just wow. It's definitely
been a crazy journey. And you know, it wasn't probably
until I was backing up a big League game and
you know, I think I had like a strikeout or
two and had some success in that. I was like, okay, like,
(19:48):
so my stuff. You know, I can actually pitch these
guys to get these guys out. And then it's you know,
once you have that internal belief and that confidence, it's
it's kind of contagious and you kind of success kind
of breed success, and you kind of keep a domino
effect rolling and then next seeing you know, you kind
of keep climbing throughout the system, keep getting outs, and
they're turned into an opportunity to be a September call
(20:11):
up in twenty nineteen, he just described level three right there, Tommy,
I belong here. I can do this. They've got five
levels of being a professional. You know, you arrive at
that point you go through happy to be here. Man,
I'm happy to be your level one level two survival.
I really dig to someone to stay here. But your
mind is all over the place, and then finally you
wake up one day, you go out there, you look around,
and you get out on the mound. You pitch well,
(20:33):
but you look around him and everybody around. You said
to yourself, man, I can do this. I don't care
I belong to I can do this with this group.
And that's when you have a chance to take off.
But you have to arrive at that point. Otherwise it's
going to be this ephemeral thing. You're going to go
up and down, up and down. You don't really believe it.
Of the moment you believe it, Man, all that stuff
you've got inside you comes to the forefront nextually become
really good. I was thinking of that without a doubt.
(20:55):
It's it's it's really that the confidence that you know,
really allowed me to you know that, the belief that, Okay, yeah,
my stuff plays, I can I can get really anybody out.
And then you know, you kind of take that and
run with it absolutely and then lo and behold. In
twenty twenty one, he gets traded by the Padres and
the Joe Musgrove deal, and where does the fighting planet go?
(21:17):
He's going back home to Pittsburgh. I mean, what was that,
like David and sharing that news with your family unbelievable. Um,
you know, I still have to pinch myself, you know,
every day getting to go and walk in the Pirate
clubhouse and you know, seeing all the jerseys because I
was I was a huge Buco fan growing up. So
now to be a part of it is I don't
(21:38):
want to, you know, be a dead horse, but it's
it's it's it's truly unbelievable and I'm so blessed to
have that opportunity and it really is awesome and amazing.
And yeah, I initially found out on Twitter and I
almost didn't want to believe it because I don't want
to get my hopes up and have something not fall through.
And then the next day I got a call and
saying it was official, So then, you know, it was
just just incredible. You know, my whole family was just
(22:01):
incredibly pumped up, and my wife, my family, Y'll can
just drive twenty minutes down to PNC instead of you know,
hopping on flights and to come see me. So that
that's been just unbelievable. I love the bird and I
love that ballpark. That ballpark I think is one of
the top five and I was baseball. They nailed it.
They absolutely nailed it. I've never seen the home side clubhouse.
(22:22):
Visiting site clubhouses is really good enough. But when you
walk out there, man, it's like it's it's due. But
it's a taste of the old. The way they have
the bridges set up out there, you get the skyline.
I love riding my bike up and down the river there.
I go by the Hinds, catch up plant, and I
go through to some kind of Greek church up on
a hill. I just love the vibe there. I love
the burg and I could see as a young major
(22:43):
League baseball player coming from that area, it's gotta be
gotta be really exciting on a nightly basis. Oh, without
a doubt. I mean, really do have to pinch myself
cool man. Hey David, we're talking about you know where
you got drafted, and we should point out your brother
Will was a first down draft pick. That's been a
lot of fun going back and forth about about that
(23:05):
being being a first rounder and everything like that. Ye
Will is in the Giants organization. How's he doing? What's
ahead for him this year? He's doing well? He uh,
he was banged up a little bit last year, but
you know, he's he's starting to throw again here shortly,
and I know, I'm excited for him and the opportunity
he has with the Giants now to you know, his
(23:26):
stuff's nasty. I mean, he won the College World Series
and was a big part of that. So that was
a lot of fun to watch him. And it's been
really cool to see him progress as a you know,
as a as a baseball player, and you know, watching
him grow and it's it's really special because you know,
he's very talented, he works hard, and uh, you know,
really the sky's the limit for him. And speaking of
(23:49):
the skies the limit, We're gonna take a quick break
finish up with David Bednar and I'm gonna ask him
about what's ahead for the Buckos. To Pittsburgh Pirates. Welcome
back to the Book of Joe podcast. Our guest is
(24:09):
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher at Team USA. Picture David Bednar. David,
we talked about the Pirates. We can see some of
the young talent coming up. O'Neil crue is just amazing.
The year that Brian Raylds had establishing himself as one
of the stars of the game. Give me a vibe
of if you're a Pirates fan and you see some
of the signs that things are starting to turn a
(24:30):
corner here, give me a sense of how quickly it
might happen, and what do you feel being around this
group of guys. Oh man, there's there's definitely a different
vibe this year going into screen training, and you know,
I think everybody's really feeling it, and you know, everybody's
really bought into you know, obviously everybody's bought into winning,
but it's it's I think it's more as real now.
(24:51):
It's it's it's attainable because there's so much young talent
and adding some veteran adding some veterans to help, you know,
speed that process up a little bit is really special.
And it's really cool because you know everybody's looking to
take that next step forward and you know, individually and
collectively as a team, and you know, we have some
exciting baseball and store in Pittsburgh. I mean, I said,
you have to get to that ascension process and once
(25:13):
there's really something to be said about learning how to
win and learning how to win on the major league
A level, there's going to be some short term goals met,
and that you have to do that before you reach
your long term goals. You have to have those short
term goals met. And I don't know, like that's winning
each month. I was into winning the week, winning the month.
From my perspective, you've got to chase the dudes in
(25:34):
front of you, like within your division. For the Cubs
it was the Cardinals, of course, and with the Rays,
it was the Yankees and the Red Sox and Matt
I just I would just get so jacked up when
we played those teams, and you played the better teams,
but you've got you've got to get to them. You've
got to be able to shake hands on their mom
on their field after victory, after the ninth inning, and
when you start doing that consistently, then you start believing it.
(25:55):
But that's part of the ascension process. But there is
something to be said when it's it's kind of hard
to define, like learning how to win, learning how to
win pretty much as each guy, your team itself, really
having a common culture, a common method of doing this thing,
and then there's a strong believability that you're gonna win
on that night. It's not like, ah, maybe we're gonna win. No,
(26:17):
we're gonna win. We're gonna win to it, We're gonna
beat these guys somehow and having a planner method to
do that. And No, I like your young guys too.
I think it's great. Like I said, Shelty and the boys.
I know Andy Hayes really well too. I mean there's
there's a lot of guys there in a chat and
Noble the roping catching instructor. I mean, a lot of
cup guys involvement there. But there's a believability that you
have to You can't think you do. You gotta believe
(26:38):
you do. And sometimes you have to convince yourself with
that and eventually you learn how to win without a doubt.
It's almost like the fake a teammake it thing, right,
you believe, you gotta believe it. If you believe it,
you'll see it. It's not to see it and believe it.
You gotta believe it to see it. That's a Wayne
dire gig and I've always thought that. I used to
tell my players that in order you have to believe
it to see it, and so I think believing comes first.
(26:59):
About Well, it's been a blast, David. I mean, one
of the things I love about w BC is Yeah,
there's a lot of stars there, but it also gives
the stage, to let's face it, some players who haven't
gotten into that postseason limelight, maybe not being well known.
And I think you've jumped out. I know you've pitched
that one game against Great Britain, but I know even
people around the team have been impressed with your stuff
(27:20):
seeing it up close, and hopefully fans to get a
chance to check you out and keep it up. Man.
This Team USA has been a rock and roll ride
and hopefully it's a long run all the way to
the finish. So really appreciate your time. Thank you guys
for having me. He's a great talk with you, guys.
It was a pleasure to visit with David bednar Joet
not just because he went to Lafayette, but I love
(27:41):
his story. I mean, you think about a guy drafted
him the thirty fifth round with probably below average velocity
at the time, or maybe average velocity, and here he
is an All star pitcher, He's closing for the Pirate's
his hometown team, He's pitching for Team USA. It's just
a great story and as you can hear talking to David,
just a great guy as well. Yeah, definitely the dream
come true situation. Bail your surrealism's come true coming from
(28:04):
a small town in Pennsylvania and get it. I love
the idea that he's close, his family's close to the ballparkers,
they're going to make that trek off in those beautiful
Pennsylvania nights, and what that means to that entire family,
and him telling a man i've seen him, Pich, this
guy's good. It's not just okay, it's good. And it's
like I said earlier, to the fact that he did
(28:24):
not throw that much coming up because you just can't.
You just can't throw that much in Pennsylvania, Western or
Eastern Pennsylvania. The springs he kind of saved your arm
a little bit. But it sounds like he's got great
inner strength. And again, I'm looking forward to getting to
know him better when we get back to campus in
the offseason. That thanks for getting him on, because that
was all you and I really appreciate it. That too, well,
I can tell you too, Joe that in talkative coaching
(28:47):
staff of Team USA, because let's face it, they haven't
seen him up close, they're blown away by his stuff.
I mean this guy has elite stuff, high nineties velocity,
the breaking ball, the split. He's not afraid to throw
any of those pitches at any point of account. So hey, listen.
He's one of those guys to me that has jumped
out early the WBC that if you didn't know David Bednar,
(29:11):
you'd better get to know him because he's a force
in the game. That's what I thought the first time
I saw him. I said, who is that? And then
they said David Bednar. Okay, good, and then somebody says
it's from Loafiet. I said, really, and then it became
even more interested. Good for him, believe for him. All Right,
mister Laffiet, you got something to take us out here
to finish up Lafayette Day on the book of Joe,
(29:32):
I should have something from the marquee himself, right, Yeah,
but this is like perfect for all that. I don't
I can't believe I messed that up. This is from
Phil Jackson, one of our favorites, and it really applies
to everything we've just been talking about. The strength of
the team is each individual member, and the strength of
each member is the team. Love that stuff. You're talking
(29:52):
to him. You could see the team Warrior orientation about him.
You've been talking about Team USA and everybody's so proud
to wear the uniform and compete against everybody else. So
the strength of each remember is the team. I love that,
mister Phil Jackson. Do we have it? Very nice? Worked
out pretty well for Phil. He went a little bit.
Yeah he did. Okay, it doesn't hurt to have Michael
(30:15):
Jordan on your side. But you know, I've always I
tried to get I try to get together with Phil
a couple of times. It's not easy, but I've always
been a big fan. Yeah. Well, this has been fun.
And for those of you who haven't checked out any
of the WBC again, you got to check it out, folks.
I know there's a lot going on with March Madness
and your teams in spring training, but the star power,
(30:37):
the passion of these games, it's it's really baseball. It's
best the way that it's played. So make sure you
check it out. See you next time, Joe, Nice, Pure Forum,
Thank your brother, See you later, man. The Book of
Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
(30:59):
for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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