Bello shut down but manager isn’t overly worried
Martinez's protege experienced forearm soreness
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Hover your hand over the panic button, but don’t press it just yet.
On Friday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters that Brayan Bello has been shut down briefly.
After answering a question about Nick Pivetta, Cora revealed, unprompted, that the 23-year-old righthander experienced forearm soreness in his last bullpen — in which he threw a lot of breaking balls — and is scheduled to resume throwing next week.
“We’re very confident Monday he’s back on his throwing program,” Cora said.
Bello debuted on July 6 of last year, and made 13 appearances, including 11 starts, for the major-league team. His 4.71 ERA and 1.779 WHIP belie the fact that his entry into the majors was, as Pedro Martinez said on MLB Network, “a little bit prematurely,” due a torrent of pitching injuries, and that the rookie improved significantly down the stretch.
Over seven games (26 innings) across July and August, Bello allowed 21 earned runs, issued 15 walks, and struck out 24 batters for a 7.27 ERA and 3.23 FIP. In his final six starts of the season (31 1/3 innings) between Sept. 3-Oct. 1, he only gave up nine earned runs and 12 walks, and struck out 31 for a 2.59 ERA and 2.70 FIP.
To prepare for his sophomore season, Bello trained with the Hall of Famer — whom he called one of his “idols” before his debut — at Martinez’s home in their native Dominican Republic. The legendary Red Sox pitcher is confident in Bello’s
potential, going so far as to say he “brings back good memories of who I was and how I was,” and that the young righty “has the potential to be a Cy Young-type of pitcher in the future” on MLB Network.
Between his late-season success and the fact that Martinez has taken a special interest in him, Bello is viewed as a key to Red Sox success this season and in the long-term, so it makes sense that they’d be overly cautious with him, especially so early in spring training.
“He’s so important to the organization,” Cora said, “He’s important for us, important for what we’re trying to accomplish.”
That Cora said the Red Sox are not planning on doing any imaging “right now” is a promising sign, and he maintains there’s “nothing to alarm.” But after a week full of positive pitching updates from Chris Sale and James Paxton, and with the pitching injuries last year, seeing Bello get back to work is the only thing that will temper concerns.