2022 Pre-Season SF Giants Top Prospects: 10-6

2022 Pre-Season SF Giants Top Prospects: 10-6

7. Will Bednar

Position: RHP
Age: 21
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 229 lbs.
Projected Level: Eugene (High-A)
MLB ETA: 2024

Tool Grades: (Present/Future)

FB 50/55 | SL 55/60 | CB 45/50 | CH 40/45 | CMD 40/40

PV 30 | FV 45

San Francisco has selected a pitcher in the first round of the MLB Draft this year for the first time since 2015 and they have selected the College World Series Most Outstanding Player after carrying the Mississippi State rotation throughout the tournament and winning the CWS title for the first time in the school’s history. After getting drafted, he did not pitch until the end of August in Arizona and was promoted to San Jose to have a glimpse of post-season baseball at a professional level.

During the CWS tournament, Bednar looked like a legitimate mid-first round talent with the fastball sitting in the mid-90s with late-life that he gets whiffs at the top of the zone and his slider has hard, sweeping bite that he can manipulate east and west against any hitter to either get called strikes or whiffs. With the Giants, however, Bednar looked like a late-first round talent with his fastball in the low-90s with little life and his slider looked only solid at best.

Bednar is a solid athlete who has dynamic but refined mechanics with a pronounced crossfire that creates a unique tunnel for his pitches. His curveball was a consistent fringy to solid offering and while he did not need his changeup in college, it flashed as a fringy to an average offering.

Even though Bednar has a full repertoire to start, he needs to improve several facets of his game, like sitting in the mid-90s in a full-season, improving his inconsistent command although he fills the zone well. There is a possibility that Bednar would lower his arm slot from a true-¾ to a low-¾ arm slot to improve his fastball characteristics. However, it is tough to envision a velocity increase because he has little to no projectability. His fastball-slider combination gives Bednar a high floor as a two-pitch, late-inning reliever, but if everything comes together, Bednar has a legitimate mid-rotation ceiling.