Brayan Bello's Surprise Demotion Set the Stage for Red Sox to Send These Players Down Too

[Alex Mayes]

In a move that was somehow both a long time coming and shocking at the same time, Brayan Bello was sent to Triple-A Worcester after his miserable start on June 4. He allowed six first-inning runs, appeared to tell his catcher to not come out to the mound during the inning, and then doubled down on the fact that he was a starter and was going to work through his issues at the big-league level. Just a few hours after those comments, he was sent down to begin a stint with the WooSox where he will be looking to move past the emotional outbursts and meltdown innings that have plagued his 2026 season.

After that shocking demotion, I wanted to take a look and see what other 26-man roster members may be next in line for a demotion in the coming weeks. I didn’t include names like Nate Eaton or Anthony Seigler on this list, as they are unlikely to see much time with the big-league club; rather, let's focus on a trio of players who have garnered more playing time than they've deserved this year.

3 Demotion Candidates for Red Sox

#3: C Carlos Narvaez

Using one of Narváez’s minor-league options right now would be shocking, arguably more so than Bello’s demotion, but offensively he’s been a shell of himself this season. Narvaez broke out in a big way during his 2025 rookie campaign but was hindered by a knee injury over the second half of the season. After a procedure to fix the knee and a full offseason to rest and get healthy, big things were expected of Narváez as the 2026 season got underway. So far, he’s yet to fully get going though.

Narváez was benched during the first Astros series of the season for arriving late to the stadium and, while his defense behind the dish is still incredible, his bat has yet to come around. He’s currently slashing .209/.283/.304 (64 wRC+) on the season and has seen his playing time decrease significantly as Mickey Gasper, and even Connor Wong, have been outperforming him offensively. Jen McCaffrey from The Athletic spoke to Narváez where he said that the dip in playing time, “wasn’t expected…and it’s not easy.” The young backstop is likely the catcher of the future in Boston, but without regular playing time, Craig Breslow and Chad Tracy may decide to give him more reps in Triple-A until he’s needed on the big-league roster again.

#2: SS/2B Marcelo Mayer

Although Mayer is a highly touted prospect with excellent defensive abilities, he’s yet to prove that he can stick at the major-league level from an offensive standpoint. He began the season at second base, where he flashed a ton of great defensive ability, but the injury to Trevor Story has allowed Mayer to slide over to his natural position, shortstop.

The fan expectation is that Mayer will remain the starting shortstop for the Red Sox even once Story returns from his sports hernia surgery in late July, but there’s a chance that he may not even be on the big-league roster at that point if his offensive production doesn’t catch up to his defensive value. He’s currently slashing .222/.281/.311 (63 wRC+) but is underperforming even those numbers in the last 25 days, where he’s only hitting .167 with a single extra-base hit. He currently has a massive hole in his swing against off-speed pitch at the bottom of the plate and pitchers are taking full advantage of that. The flip side of that is he’s only going to learn to hit big league off-speed pitches with the Red Sox; the team will have to balance his confidence with his development the rest of the season.

#1: RHP Greg Weissert

Maybe the only person more deserving to be sent to Worcester than Brayan Bello is the closer for Team Italy himself, Greg Weissert. The right-hander has been brutally awful this season, being an almost automatic loss when he enters a game with ducks on the pond. That’s the sole reason his ERA is, miraculously, just 3.96 on the season. He’s second to Ryan Watson in reliever innings pitched at 25.1, but you rarely feel good when you see him warming up in the bullpen.

Often, Weissert will be getting warm next to someone like Justin Slaten and you have to wonder, once runners get on base, if Weissert begins to hope that Tracy will call for someone else when he takes that walk to the mound. The most frustrating part about the veteran set-up man is that his slider is arguably the most lethal pitch in the game. When he’s feeling it, that pitch is almost unhittable for a right-handed hitter. He lets it leak over the plate though, and when it doesn’t have the snap that it needs to, it gets crushed. Weissert could likely use some time without the pressure that pitching for the Red Sox brings to reset after Team Italy’s Cinderella run in the World Baseball Classic that gave all of us hope while we watched him pitch. Burning his last option keeps him in the organization and allows for the team to keep working with him to get him back on track.

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