Article: Brayan Bello Pitches Third Rehab Start On A Cold Worcester Night

[Nick John]

On a cold April night, Brayan Bello continued his rehab assignment as he works his way back to the Boston Red Sox.

Following the start, Bello said he was “ready for whatever” and that he felt “100% healthy”, an encouraging sign for the Red Sox after starter Richard Fitts was removed from his start against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon. The original plan for Bello was to have one more rehab appearance, but with Fitts possibly going down with an injury, that might change the team’s plan.

At the start of the game, the temperature was in the low 40s, but Brayan Bello pitched well despite the weather. In four innings, Bello surrendered four hits and three runs, but only two of them were earned. He also struck out five batters and did not walk anyone.

Bello led with his sinker, throwing it for 29 of his 64 pitches, with its max speed reaching 97.8 mph. The pitch averaged 95.8 mph on the night, picking up speed as the right-hander progressed into the game. In the game's first at-bat, he threw three straight sinkers, the pitches being listed at 94.5 mph, 94.2 mph, and 94.7 mph. Despite the heavy usage of the pitch, it was hit hard, generating an average exit velocity of 102 mph. In total, it generated 15 swings but only seven whiffs. Contact was made 75% of the time for the sinkers in the zone.

The changeup and slider played off his sinker, the former being thrown 17 times and the latter 15. The changeup averaged an exit velocity of 80 mph, while the slider was hit a bit harder with an average exit velocity of 96.1 mph. Like the sinker, both pitches failed to generate many whiffs, as there were four whiffs between the two pitches. Bello also tossed his fastball three times, getting a swing against it each time, along with a whiff.

Of the 64 pitches tossed by Bello, 34 of them were within the strike zone. Of the 30 thrown outside of the zone, he managed to get batters to chase 12, leading to a 70% strike rate. In total, opposing batters swung at 33 of his pitches and made contact in 21 of those swings.

Bello’s first inning was a bit loud despite only surrendering a single hit, as all three balls in play had decent exit velocities. The highest being a single by Will Brennan at 99.3 mph. The second inning was the toughest for Bello as he surrendered three hits and three runs from a combination of hard-hit balls and some shoddy defense.

The first four batters reached in the second inning as a leadoff triple by Micah Pries, followed by a 109.9 mph single by Kody Huff. Both hits were followed up by Petey Halpin singling before Dom Nuñez reached on an error by Abraham Toro.

After that, Bello managed to limit the damage, getting Christian Cairo to fly out and then got Brennan on a groundout to Toro. The first baseman tried to turn two, but Worcester could only get one out making the score three to nothing. Bello would get the final out on a groundout before any more runs could score.

Following the long second inning, Bello cruised through the last two frames, going three up and three down in both innings. He also got four of his five strikeouts in those two innings.

The plan is to have Bello pitch one more rehab appearance, ruling him out from joining the team for the series in Tampa Bay. Those plans could always change now that Fitts has gone down, though. If the team feels it is best to have Bello get one more rehab start, they could turn to Hunter Dobbins to take Fitts’ next start.

Despite Bello saying that he is at 100%, the fact that he only threw 64 pitches may make the Red Sox lean towards him getting an extra rehab start to ensure his conditioning is good instead of rushing him back to the big league club. Should he start again for Worcester, he is likely to pitch on Wednesday, and should everything go well, that would line him up to most likely pitch on April 21st for the Red Sox in the Patriots’ Day game.

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[mvp 78]

Day Bello? Yuck!

Daytime Bello: 855 OPS, 5.48 ERA, 1.632 WHIP

[vegasbob]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Day Bello? Yuck!

Daytime Bello: 855 OPS, 5.48 ERA, 1.632 WHIP

For Brayan Bello, the nighttime is the right time  , but the nightlife ain't no good life .