When someone like Brayan Bello comes along, it’s natural to get ahead of yourself.
The most promising young pitcher to come out of the Red Sox system in more than a decade, Bello has drawn comparisons to Pedro Martinez and been pegged by some as a future Cy Young contender. The 24-year-old is undeniably talented, but even the most promising young arms don’t always pan out, so coming into the year it was fair to worry if the bar was being set too high too soon.
Now, it’s looking like the expectations may not have been high enough.
Bello is becoming an ace right before our eyes, and with each passing start he’s further established himself as a guy who doesn’t just have greatness in his future, but who is a legit stud right now.
With his latest dominating performance, in which he carried a no-hitter into the eighth before ultimately being saddled with a tough-luck loss, Bello now has a 3.08 ERA over 73 innings through his first 13 starts. His 2.6 wins above replacement leads the Red Sox and ranks seventh among American League pitchers despite the fact that Bello missed the first three weeks due to a forearm strain suffered in spring training.
Bello’s performance has earned widespread recognition from across the game, and he earned particularly high praise from the Marlins following his latest gem.
“Bello’s got incredible stuff,” said Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo, who went toe to toe with Bello in Thursday’s 2-0 Red Sox loss. “I know he’s a young kid. I’ve never really seen him pitch, but I saw him pitch today and it was incredible. It was just awesome being a part of it. Kind of keeps you in the game as a pitcher. He was working quick, I was working quick, so I feel like we each had a good rhythm going. But it was awesome to be a part of that.”
Bello’s numbers would look even better if not for a bad season debut in which he gave up five runs over 2.2 innings on a rainy Marathon Monday morning. In his starts since then Bello’s ERA stands at 2.56, and he hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any outing during that stretch.
If there was an obvious weakness in Bello’s game early on it was his lack of efficiency, but lately it seems like he’s figured out how to finish batters sooner and pitch deeper into games. Bello’s thrown five straight quality starts while posting a 2.14 ERA since the beginning of June, and in each of his last three starts he’s pitched into the seventh inning while allowing just one run.
“He wants to get better,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said this week. “He wants to be good, he wants to dominate.”
Dominating deep into games on a consistent basis? That’s what aces do, and at this point Bello stacks up well against any other young arm making their name around the sport.
As of this writing there are 17 pitchers age 24 or younger who have made at least eight starts this season, and of that group Bello’s 3.08 ERA ranks third, behind only 20-year-old Miami phenom Eury Perez (1.34) and Atlanta’s Bryce Elder (2.44).
Bello’s 2.6 WAR also ranks second among that group behind only Elder (3.2), and he’s been more productive overall than a number of better known young standouts, including Atlanta strikeout machine Spencer Strider and Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene.
The fact that Bello is already this good so soon is an enormous development for the Red Sox, and it’s not an exaggeration to say he may be among the most valuable assets in all of baseball.
To sign a pitcher of Bello’s caliber on the free agent market would likely cost more than $30 million annually, and to swing a trade for an arm like that would require gutting the farm system.
Instead, the Red Sox have their guy under team control and on an affordable deal through the 2028 season. If his career arc so far has been any indication, Bello’s best is still yet to come.
The Texas Rangers are enjoying their best season in seven years, and between their recent infusion of star power and sky-high fan enthusiasm, the club will be well represented in this month’s MLB All-Star Game.
Texas leads the majors with four All-Star starters, meaning the Rangers will make up nearly half of the American League’s lineup when the stars hit the field at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park on July 11. Catcher Jonah Heim, second baseman Marcus Semien, rookie third baseman Josh Jung and shortstop Corey Seager were all voted in as starters by the fans, who overcame a similar push by the Blue Jays, who had five finalists but did not ultimately earn any starting spots.
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout was voted an All-Star for the 11th consecutive year, and he’ll be joined again by teammate and perennial MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani, the starting designated hitter. Tampa Bay has two starters in first baseman Yandy Diaz and outfielder Randy Arozarena, and injured New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was also voted as a starter, though he will not play due to his sprained toe.
On the National League side, the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers had three starters apiece. Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., catcher Sean Murphy and shortstop Orlando Arcia were voted in, as were Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts, first baseman Freddie Freeman and designated hitter J.D. Martinez.
Betts and Martinez, both former Red Sox stars, are making their seventh and fifth consecutive All-Star appearances respectively, with Martinez enjoying a return to form (.267, 19 home runs, .896 OPS) after an underwhelming final season in Boston last year.
Miami second baseman Luis Arraez, St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado and Arizona rookie outfielder Corbin Carroll rounded out the NL starters. The full All-Star rosters, including pitchers and reserves, will be unveiled Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
Domingo Germán had been having a rough June. Coming into the week he’d posted a grisly 8.50 ERA in four starts, and in his past two outings he’d gotten lit up for seven runs by the Red Sox at Fenway Park and then eight runs by the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium.
Needless to say, you wouldn’t have predicted on Wednesday that Germán was about to throw the 24th perfect game in MLB history.
Those who stayed up for New York’s late game against the Oakland Athletics were in for a treat, as Germán dominated the overmatched A’s and sent down all 27 batters he faced on only 99 pitches.
“So exciting. When you think about something very unique in baseball, you know not many people have an opportunity to pitch a perfect game,” Germán told reporters afterwards. “To accomplish something like this in my career, you know, it’s something that I am going to remember forever, be part of history, so exciting.”
Germán became the first pitcher to throw a perfect game in MLB since Seattle’s Felix Hernández on Aug. 15, 2012. It was also the fourth perfect game by a Yankee, following Don Larsen (Game 5 of 1956 World Series), David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999).
Methuen’s Dom Keegan, a former Central Catholic and Vanderbilt standout, has earned a promotion to High-A after a dominant start to his first full season of professional baseball.
Keegan, a fourth-round pick by the Tampa Bay Rays last summer, batted .315 with an .878 OPS and five home runs in 58 games with Low-A Charleston. At the time of his promotion Keegan was leading the Carolina League in hitting, and in his first two games with the Bowling Green Hot Rods he’s gone 3 for 6 with three walks and no strikeouts.
The 22-year-old catcher currently ranks as the No. 24 prospect in the Rays organization according to MLB Pipeline.