The New York Yankees’ bullpen has been a headache for much of 2025, but David Bednar has quietly become the aspirin Aaron Boone keeps reaching for—maybe too often. The Yankees acquired the 30-year-old right-hander from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline without planning to make him their multi-inning fireman, but just ten days in pinstripes, they’re asking him to put out flames in the eighth and then slam the door in the ninth.
That’s precisely what happened in Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Houston Astros, when Bednar entered with the bases loaded in the eighth, walked in the tying run on four straight balls after getting ahead 0-2 to Christian Walker, then struck out the next two batters and breezed through the ninth. It was his second straight five-out outing—and his third appearance in four days—following a 42-pitch marathon in Texas earlier in the week.
Boone admitted afterward he’d hoped for “Doval for one [inning] and Bednar for one,” but with Devin Williams imploding and Camilo Doval struggling, the Yankees’ best option late in games has quickly become overextended. “Hopefully, one of these times, I can get Bednar one inning only,” Boone said.
The Performance Is There, But the Workload Math Is Ugly
On the surface, Bednar’s numbers in 2025 suggest he’s built for the moment. His ERA sits at 2.46 with a 33.9% strikeout rate and a .216 opponent batting average. Statcast shows he’s inducing weak contact, with a 42.9% hard-hit rate allowed that’s slightly above league average but mitigated by sharp pitch execution. His curveball, holding hitters to a .178 batting average and a .135 expected mark, has been a put-away weapon in high-leverage spots.
But those numbers come with a clear caveat: multi-inning save attempts dramatically increase the wear-and-tear risk, especially for a pitcher who averages 97 mph on his four-seamer and leans heavily on high-spin breaking stuff (curveball spin rate: 2,447 RPM). In back-to-back multi-inning outings, velocity dips can sneak in. Bednar’s four-seamer averaged 97.0 mph in Saturday’s eighth, but dropped to the mid-96s by the ninth. That’s not catastrophic in a single game, but the cumulative effect can sap late-season effectiveness over weeks.
History isn’t kind to relievers tasked with sustained, high-leverage, multi-inning work. Even elite closers tend to see strikeout rates drop and hard-hit rates climb with overuse. Bednar’s career hints at that. According to Statcast, his 2024 hard-hit rate jumped to 39.5% after a heavy early-season workload in Pittsburgh, and his ERA ballooned from 2.00 in 2023 to 5.78 in 2024.
A Dangerous Necessity for the Yankees
The problem for the Yankees is that the alternatives are even shakier. Devin Williams’ ERA has exploded to 5.54, Doval has struggled with command since his arrival, and Jake Bird lasted less than a week before the Yankees sent him to Triple-A, forcing Boone to lean on Bednar as the security blanket in situations that once belonged to Mariano Rivera-style one-inning closers.
Bednar is saying all the right things. “Whenever the phone rings, I’m ready to roll,” he told reporters. And right now, his results confirm that. The split-finger is generating a 41.0% whiff rate, and he’s pounding the zone more consistently than he did earlier in the year (54.2% zone rate). He’s also handled traffic well, stranding inherited runners in key spots.
But the Yankees aren’t just playing for August wins—they’re trying to set up for October. Overextending their most reliable late-inning arm now could leave them with a diminished version when the games matter most. Losing Bednar’s current form down the stretch would devastate a bullpen already leaking oil.
Boone knows it. The front office knows it. The fans probably know it too, even as they cheer his five-out escapes. Saturday’s heroics made for great theatre, but the Yankees can’t keep running the same script without risking a third-act collapse. If Bednar keeps bailing them out in August, there’s a real chance he won’t have much left to give in October.
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