Brayan Bello, Kristian Campbell Know There Is Work To Be Done Before Returning To Red Sox

[Nick John]

The Worcester Red Sox currently have $125 million tied between to two players on the roster, as both Brayan Bello and Kristian Campbell play in Triple-A instead of Boston. When both signed their extensions, they were seen as steals by the organization as both players looked like cornerstones for the franchise. Now, there is concern that the team will be forced to eat that sum of money as both players have struggled mightily over parts of the past two seasons.

“He’ll have a good start and then you can see he gets into some traffic. I think being able to handle himself through that, you know, because that seems like what he’s been dealing with all year. And you can see it kind of snowball a little bit but when you see him stay under control mentally and being able to get himself out of it, I think that’s a positive thing to see,” acting WooSox manager Iggy Suarez stated about Bello prior to Tuesday’s game against the Toledo Mudhens.

The 2026 campaign has been a disaster for the young right-hander. Coming off of his best season in 2025 where he tossed 166 2/3 innings with a 3.35 ERA while looking like a true number two starter in the rotation, expectations were high for Bello. Instead, his 2026 season has seen him demoted to Triple-A Worcester to work on some issues. In 12 appearances in Boston (eight of them starts), Bello tossed 61 innings and allowed 43 earned runs. His biggest issue? The first inning.

In eight first innings this season, Bello has been unable to pitch well. Whether a mental issue or teams just having his number, Bello has allowed opposing teams to hit .442/.520/.837 with five doubles, four home runs and 15 runs scored against him in the opening frame. For a starter, that is unacceptable. To circumvent these issues, the Red Sox looked to have Bello begin his outings in the second inning and turned to an opener.

In his four appearances as a bulk reliever, Bello looked like a different pitcher, tossing 25 1/3 innings in four outings and allowing just two earned runs. Unfortunately, he couldn't explain why that was the case.

“Honestly, I don’t know. It isn’t much of a difference mentality wise when it comes to starting versus coming out of the bullpen. I just go out there with the same mindset and plan of attack,” Bello explained through translator Daveson Pérez at Polar Park.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, their openers also struggled and in most cases, Bello entered the game with the Red Sox already losing. For both the right-hander and the team, it was not possible for them to succeed with Bello being unable to pitch the first inning. Ultimately it led to his demotion on June 4 after allowing eight runs in five innings against the Baltimore Orioles.

“He’s going to have to work on some stuff. I want him to be comfortable with us. It’s going to be an adjustment for him for sure,” Suarez explained back on June 5 after the news of Bello’s optioning had settled.

Bello himself knew that he had work to do if he wanted to be a major-league pitcher again.

“Get better with my locations, pitches and on the mental side of the game,” the right-hander told media during a media session on his first day back in Worcester. “I’m ready to put the work in down here so whenever it’s my time or whatever role they give me at the big=league level, I’m able to take full advantage of it.”

For Bello, it was necessary to make it through the first inning without allowing teams to take the lead while also working on some of his pitches. His fastball, while only thrown 65 times, had ended up being hit by opponents at a .563 average. His sinker and cutter weren’t much better, as they were hit by opponents at averages of .316 and .361 respectively.

Since joining Worcester’s rotation, Bello has seen some improvement as his fastball has an expected batting average of .253, though his sinker and cutter are still being hit hard with expected batting averages of .334 and .385 respectively.

The cutter has seen an increase in usage since being optioned, going from being used 16% of the time with Boston up to 27.4% of the time with Worcester. Despite opponents hitting the pitch well, it is also generating a 52.4% whiff rate; location of pitch could be the biggest difference here. In Worcester, he’s been throwing the pitch more often than not down and in to right-handed hitters or down and away for a backdoor pitch to left-handed hitters. For Bello to return to his dominant self, he needs his cutter to return to its 2025 self where opponents managed to hit just .230 against it and whiffed on the pitch nearly a quarter of the time it was thrown.

Despite his struggles, Bello isn’t ready to give up and wants the fans to know that. “One thing that is never missing is how hard I work. The amount of work I’ve put in is super important to me and to the fans, I’m looking forward to doing what I have to do down here [Worcester] to go back up there and continue having the fun times we’ve had in the past.”

Since then, Bello has made three starts with Worcester, tossing 13 2/3 innings while allowing six earned runs and striking out 16 batters.

“We don’t expect him to come down here and just go put up zeros and three up, three down. Let’s see how he reacts to some trouble out there and he’s been handling himself pretty well. So that’s one thing we’ve seen too,” Suarez explained about Bello’s performance so far since joining Worcester’s rotation.

“You want to have good results, want to have positive results so you want him to go out there and succeed right out of the gate. The issue was the first inning for him has always been the thing. So, when you see him get through a first inning and then the second inning well, you’re like, okay, this is awesome. Then when you get to traffic on the bases, let’s see how he handles himself here. You want to navigate both. You want to have him in situations where we want him to work, but if it doesn’t line up that way then maybe that’s a good thing. Then if he does get into a situation, it’s like, here we go. This is something he’s been working on, let’s see how he reacts.”

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For Campbell, things have been much different.

“He’s taken steps, right? He’s handling himself better in between at-bats. Staying focused on what the adjustments are and not the results. Some days are going to be good; some are going to be bad. We’re taking steps, we’re not all the way there,” former Worcester manager Chad Tracy explained back in mid-April.

Campbell, who was once viewed as the future second baseman of the Boston Red Sox when he signed his extension with the team, has now spent the past year in Triple-A where he has played more than 125 games, bouncing between first base, second base and the outfield. This year, he’s exclusively played the outfield.

While his defense at second base was bad (he had a Fielding Run Value of -10), it was his bat that seemingly vanished over his final two months in the majors, leading to a greater concern. Even if his defense isn't elite, with a bat that produced a stat line of .301/.407/.495 with eight doubles, four home runs and 12 RBIs in his first month in the big leagues, you could find a place to hide his glove.

However, since rejoining Worcester, Campbell has seemingly lost the power that previously wowed individuals; he’s hit just 10 home runs and 20 doubles in that span. And in his 62 games in 2026, his offensive production has continued to wane. The outfielder has hit just .212/.342/.286 while striking out 85 times. And the frustration is starting to become visible.

“I think you can see it in him of how he’s performing because I think he expects a lot of himself. And I think you see the frustration when he’s not going well, and rightly so. I’ve had him in the past and I’ve seen the success and the skyrocket. He’s a good player,” Suarez said of Campbell. “Now, it’s been inconsistent and you can see the frustration that he’s going through. You just try to be there for him. It’s not like he’s not putting the work in, so you try to help him maintain the confidence of the day-to-day.”

Campbell is dealing with the process of reworking his mechanics since being optioned last June and it has been an up-and-down experience. As the organization has constantly said, it’s about the process and not the results as Campbell gets more comfortable with the new mechanics. Still, he needs to cut down on the strikeouts and start hitting the ball with more authority.

At this point in the season, Campbell’s strikeout rate of 31.5% is too high in Triple-A for a player who hopes to rejoin the major leagues. He is walking at a 15.2% rate, offsetting some concern, though this all comes back to his swing decisions. Through roughly three months of play, Campbell’s in-zone swing percentage is just 58.8%, while he is swinging at just 40.6% of the pitches thrown to him in general. While patience is a great trait, Campbell may be putting himself in a hole by allowing too many pitches to pass by him in an at-bat, especially as he only swings and misses on just under 12% of his swings.

Despite the ups and downs Campbell has endured, his manager believes he’s capable of overcoming them. What he’s experiencing is a part of baseball that everyone deals with at some point in time. For Campbell, it just happened to come when he made the major leagues.

“I’ve seen it personally when I had him, I saw what he can do. Not just at the A-ball level, he went to Double-A, Triple-A and MiLB Player of the Year. I don’t think that was a fluke. He’s a good player," Suarez said, reaffirming his belief in on the team's most lucrative investments.

"There’s a reason he got what he got [for an extension] and I think it’s still in there."

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