Brayan Bello preps for the most anticipated debut by a Red Sox pitching prospect in years -

BOSTON — It’s been a while since this level of hype surrounded the debut of a homegrown Red Sox pitching prospect.

Young pitchers are nothing new for the Red Sox this season, even talented ones; pitchers like Josh Winckowski, Connor Seabold and Kutter Crawford have undoubtedly helped buoy the big-league club through a recent rash of rotation injuries. The Red Sox have gone 6-3 in nine starts over the past month with young pitchers filling in from Triple A, some of them legitimate prospects in their own right.

But the arrival of 23-year-old right-hander Brayan Bello, even if just for one spot start against the Rays on Wednesday, represents something different.

Bello was the No. 86 prospect in baseball to start the season, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law, and after his electric spring he now ranks 49th according to Baseball America’s midseason report. Bello increased his stock this season with an impressive first half in Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester, posting a 2.33 ERA in 15 games, 14 starts, striking out 114 and walking 33 in 85 innings.

“I don’t get too nervous but I’m really happy to get the opportunity to make my MLB debut here at Fenway in front of all the fans,” Bello said through translator Carlos Villoria Benitez on Tuesday, before the Red Sox fell 8-4 to the Rays, with one of the few remaining healthy rotation pieces, Nick Pivetta, taking the loss. “I’ve been working really hard for this moment to be here. I’m excited. I’m just ready to go.”

The Red Sox signed Bello almost exactly five years ago, on July 2, 2017, as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic when he was 18 years old. Bello had some ups and downs in the first two years of his professional career, but after a dedicated workout program during the 2020 minor league shutdown, he emerged stronger in 2021. He added velocity to a fastball that now hits 100 mph and complements a changeup that has drawn comparisons to that of Pedro Martinez, the Hall of Famer, fellow Dominican, and Red Sox legend whom Bello considers a mentor.

Bello jumped from High-A Greenville to Double-A Portland last year, pitching in the MLB Futures Game and finishing the year as Boston’s Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year, with a 3.87 ERA over 21 starts, striking out 132 and walking 31 in 95 ⅔ innings.

“Obviously he’s made a lot of strides,” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham said at the end of last season. “He’s shown the ability to mix pitches. He’s shown velocity with his fastball, he’s shown the ability to have swing-and-miss in his secondaries. I think being consistent and challenging in the zone with the stuff that he has is really important. I think you see, you know a lot of our major-league pitchers have talked about being competitive with the strike zone. I think when you have the type of stuff he has, that’s something that’s really important.”

Over the winter, the Red Sox added Bello to their 40-man roster, meaning the club wasn’t able to contact him during the MLB lockout. Yet Red Sox manager Alex Cora remained impressed with Bello’s worth ethic.

“Everybody knew where he was, and it was running hills and working out — that was the best Instagram account to follow for the manager in the offseason,” Cora said of Bello’s documenting his offseason on social media. “I was like man, this kid, he wants it. He wants it bad. I saw him in spring training. Pretty solid. He understood the situation. Went down there and attacked it the right way.”

Brayan Bello tosses a 7-inning complete game no-hitter! pic.twitter.com/YzhSSkI0tr

— Portland Sea Dogs (@PortlandSeaDogs) May 6, 2022

Bello started the year in Portland and after six starts and a 1.60 ERA — including a seven-inning no-hitter during a stretch where he didn’t allow a hit for 13 straight innings— he was promoted to Worcester in mid-May, where he has continued to excel. He struck out 10 batters in consecutive starts to begin his Triple-A career and has held opponents to three runs or fewer in all nine of his appearances for the WooSox.

“His progress really the last couple years has been something to watch,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said last month. “Really, really remarkable. He can do a lot of things consistently now, that a year ago, he couldn’t. He’s got a lot of different weapons. He knows how to use them now. There’s obviously more development there, but he has a really high ceiling.”

Not since Henry Owens in 2015 or even Clay Buchholz in 2007 has a homegrown pitching prospect been as hotly anticipated. Owens and Buchholz also debuted at age 23 for the Red Sox. Owens, Baseball America’s No. 44 prospect entering 2015, posted a 3.16 ERA over 21 Triple-A starts with 103 strikeouts and 56 walks in 122 ⅓ innings before his promotion to Boston in August 2015 in New York against the Yankees. The lefty allowed three runs over five innings in his debut and posted a 4.57 ERA over 11 starts to finish the year in Boston. But in 2016, he made five starts with a 6.95 ERA and never made it back to the majors.

Meanwhile Buchholz, Baseball America’s No. 51 prospect the year he was promoted, famously pitched a no-hitter in his second big-league start on Sept. 1, 2007 after allowing three earned runs in six innings in his debut two weeks prior. He pitched more than 200 games for the Red Sox over the next 10 seasons, retiring with 90 wins and a 3.98 ERA after a 13-year major league career.

Cora admitted the level of prospect hype creates impossible expectations for players to live up to, but understands the excitement surrounding Bello’s debut.

“I know we get excited about the players, especially in this region it seems like,” Cora said. “They put these kids way up there. Let’s chill tomorrow and let him enjoy it. Whatever happens, happens. This kid is going to be a big part of this organization for a long, long time but tomorrow is about going out there and being a big leaguer. If being a big leaguer is going five and no runs, so be it. If it’s three and he gives up seven, so be it too. Just like I told (Crawford) last year and (Winkowski) early on, you work so hard to get here and one day you play here, you’re a big leaguer regardless of what people think. So let’s enjoy it and see where it takes us.”

(Top photo of Bello: AP Photo / Mary Schwalm)

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