Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox's Potential Future Ace Brayan Bello Adding Lethal Pitch To Arsenal

Bello already features a four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup and slider.

Scott Neville

Red Sox's Potential Future Ace Brayan Bello Adding Lethal Pitch To Arsenal
Red Sox's Potential Future Ace Brayan Bello Adding Lethal Pitch To Arsenal /
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Could a veteran member of the Boston Red Sox help push Brayan Bello into the next stage of his development? The work appears to already be in progress.

During Tuesday night's NESN broadcast, the camera cut to 42-year-old crafty southpaw Rich Hill instructing Bello on how to throw a curveball. 

It seems as if Bello and Hill weren't just making conversation, as the budding ace already is putting Hill's teachings into effect. 

"I’ve been practicing my curveball the past few days and I was able to throw it today twice against lefties so that's a pitch I’m going to add to my repertoire in the future," Bello told reporters through a translator after losing to the New York Yankees 5-3, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage.

Hill, who uses his curveball as his primary pitch (37.8% usage rate), might be the best mentor in the game when it comes to throwing an effective breaking ball. Hill has relied on his curveball to navigate him through an 18-year Major League Baseball career that began when Bello was just six years old. 

Bello certainly has a few areas to improve on before putting all efforts into expanding his arsenal, as he's lacked consistent command at times, but could become a real weapon for the Red Sox if he can put it all together. Adding an over-the-top vertical breaking ball would make him even more electric.

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Scott Neville
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

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