Can Red Sox's Brayan Bello Buck Trend Of Terrible Pitching Pipeline?

Bello improved each month during his rookie campaign

Scott Neville | Oct 13, 2022

Can Red Sox's Brayan Bello Buck Trend Of Terrible Pitching Pipeline? /

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Boston Red Sox

Could Brayan Bello solve one of the biggest issues the Boston Red Sox organization has faced over the last few decades?

Boston has not been able to boast much of anything in terms of homegrown talent this century despite its four World Series championships. Bello appears to be a rare exception and possibly the start of a new era for the longstanding franchise.

Bello surged through the farm system on his way to becoming the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2022 after going 10-4 record with a 2.34 ERA, 129-to-36 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .186 batting average against in 96 innings across 18 appearances between Double-A Portland and Triple-Worcester.

While his first few starts in Boston were not nearly as impressive, he had electric stuff throughout and quickly adjusted to the major league level.

After being rushed up to the majors due to the big league club being decimated by injuries, Bello started to attack the zone more and more each start and showed promise as a frontline starter by the end of the season.

Months	Wins	Losses	ERA	K/BB	Opponent OPS	Innings
July	0	3	8.82	1.18	1.027	16 1/3
August	0	1	4.66	2.75	.728	9 2/3
Sept./Oct.	2	4	2.59	2.58	.702	31 1/3

The 23-year-old has a sinker that averages 96.3 mph with a negative launch angle against (meaning he produces ground balls at an elite rate), and a four-seamer that averages 97 mph.

Bello's changeup is by far his best pitch, with a .158 batting average against and a ridiculous 44.2% whiff rate. His slider shows promise as well, with a higher BAA but an effective 22% whiff rate.

The hard-throwing right-hander also tossed five curveballs as he experimented with the pitch, thanks in part to veteran Rich Hill showing him the ropes.

He has all the tools to become an elite frontline starter and is poised for a breakout season in 2023. Should he succeed, he'll be one of less than a handful of homegrown aces developed by Boston.

The last Red Sox homegrown talent to win the Cy Young was Roger Clemens, who did so in 1986, 1987 and 1991 while donning a Red Sox uniform. Since then, the only two formidable frontline starters developed by Boston have been Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. The latter was more of a flash in the pan than a star.

The Red Sox brass have been forced to invest heavily via trade assets or massive contracts to bring in players like David Price and Chris Sale, which severely impacts the team's ability to enforce the roster around them.

If Bello can reach Pedro Martinez's prediction of being a Cy Young-caliber pitcher in the making, it will vastly improve Red Sox chief baseball officer's ability to field a competitive roster.

The pitching pipeline behind Bello is enticing as well, with eight starting pitchers ranked inside the Red Sox's top 30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline.

Bryan Mata (No. 6), Brandon Walter (No. 7), Chris Murphy (No. 11), Wikelman Gonzalez (No. 14), Thad Ward (No. 15), Connor Seabold (No. 22), Luis Perales (No. 28) and Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (No. 29) are all names to watch next season.

Should any of these arms behind Bello produce at the big league level, the Red Sox's path back to contention will be much easier.

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Published Oct 13, 2022

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu