Giants sign Mississippi State’s Will Bednar
STARKVILLE, Miss. (BVM) — A bit of normalcy returned to the MLB Draft this year. Following a five-round draft in 2020, MLB extended the draft to 20 rounds in 2021. It’s still not the 40 rounds teams and fans are used to, but 612 prospects were able to hear their name called by an MLB team. And Will Bednar is one of those prospects.
Bednar, a Pennsylvania native, committed to Mississippi State in 2019 after playing for his dad Andrew at Mars Area High School. He posted a 0.64 ERA, won nine games and had 115 total strikeouts, according to MaxPreps.
While at Mississippi State, the 6-foot-2, 229-pound right-hander started in 17 games for the Bulldogs. Posting a 2.93 career ERA and striking out 162 total batters, Bednar was able to boost himself to the No. 32 overall prospect according to MLB.com.
Along with his ranking, Bednar proved he had what it took when the bright lights shined. In the College World Series (CWS), Bednar pitched in three games and dominated. He allowed only three runs on five hits. He also struck out 26 batters in 18.1 innings of work while on his way to winning CWS Most Outstanding Player.
Now, even with his performance, he was still slotted as the No. 32 overall prospect. But he was hoping his CWS performance would boost his odds of getting drafted in the first round. And that’s precisely what happened.
With the 14th pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, the San Francisco Giants selected Bednar. It came moments after his brother David, who is a relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, collected his first MLB win.
“When I first got drafted, we [his family] were looking at the Giants schedule to see when the next home game was,” Bednar said in an interview with Amy Gutierrez. “We saw they were playing the Pirates and were all like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool!’ so to finally be here [at Oracle Park] and have him [his brother] here is an unbelievable experience.”
Along with the excitement of being picked by a professional baseball team, comes the payday. Bednar signed with the Giants for $3.65 million. That is $386,800 below the slot value of the No. 14 overall pick.
1st-rder Will Bednar signs w/@SFGiants for $3.65 million (pick 14 value = $4,036,800). Mississippi State RHP, @NCAACWS Most Outstanding Player, one of best combos of stuff & polish in @MLBDraft. Pair of plus pitches in mid-90s fastball & mid-80s slider.
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 23, 2021
Bednar had the choice to return to Mississippi State and defend the CWS title, but he ultimately decided to sign with the Giants. Now it’s time for Bednar to get back on the mound and prepare for his big league career.
“[I’m] going to go back to Arizona, get back into shape and get moving and we’ll go from there,” Bednar said.
Welcome to San Francisco, @bednar_will! pic.twitter.com/VVcNvbdSKJ
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 23, 2021
