Pitching with 'no fear,' Bello dazzles in debut

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- All along, Brayan Bello said the right forearm tightness he dealt with at the start of Spring Training was nothing to worry about.

But when you hear about a stud young pitcher having any discomfort in that part of the arm, alarm bells get set off, particularly in a market like Boston.

On Sunday, Bello calmed Red Sox Nation when his first pitch in a Grapefruit League game seared in at 96.2 mph for a strike against Phillies left fielder Weston Wilson. Bello struck out Wilson and then Max McDowell, the second batter he faced. Both punchouts were on changeups. The 23-year-old righty got a first-pitch groundout from Cody Roberts and it seemed like his first inning of the spring was over before it started.

In two innings of relief, Bello sent down all six batters he faced, needing just 25 pitches to do so in Sunday's 9-5 win over the Phillies at BayCare Ballpark.

“Yeah, I wanted to get out of there just because it was really cold out,” quipped Bello of a rare day in Spring Training when the temperature didn’t reach 70 degrees. "So I wanted to make quick work of it."

The truth is that Bello looked like a cool customer on the mound, one who is ready to make the leap in his second Major League season.

“Seems like he was nervous, right?” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

Spoiler alert: Cora was joking.

Bello carries an air of calmness. That said, his smile was wide on this day -- while he pitched, in the dugout afterward and when he spoke to reporters.

“Yeah, super good, really good,” Bello said of what it felt like to pitch in a game for the first time this spring.

The first Grapefruit League outing might have been the last for Bello. He is set to start the season on the injured list so he can continue to build up his pitch count. Meanwhile, the Red Sox need to allocate the innings of their remaining Grapefruit League games mainly for pitchers who are going to break camp with the team. Bello can get his work in on the backfields against Minor League opponents.

Bello won’t be absent from Boston’s big league mix for long, though. He will need to pitch roughly four more times before the Red Sox activate him. Going by a five-day pitching schedule, Bello will make his fifth appearance around April 8. That means he could be in Cora’s rotation as soon as April 13.

Without question, the Red Sox were conservative with Bello after that forearm twinge in mid-February because of who he is and what he means to the organization. He is the most promising homegrown pitcher Boston has had in a while.

“I do believe we weren’t concerned from the get-go. We just had to be cautious,” said Cora. “This kid is very important for us in the present and the future. We cannot take chances. It was early enough [in Spring Training], we were like, ‘We’re not going to push it.’

“I think he did an outstanding job killing the rehab and he put himself in this situation. We didn’t have doubts. We knew it. It’s just one of those, we have to take care of him because of who he is, just be a little more cautious.”

The possessor of a nasty sinker and changeup, Bello was invited to the legendary Pedro Martinez’s house in the Dominican Republic for a tutorial back in the winter.

What did Martinez teach Bello that he utilized on Sunday against the Phillies?

“I threw inside with no fear,” Bello said.

After a strong finish in 2022, Bello can’t wait to see how he handles the challenges that await in ‘23.

“With everything I learned last year -- added on to everything I learned with Pedro in the offseason, what I’ve learned in Spring Training -- I know there’s going to be a lot more that I need to learn in the regular season too,” said Bello. “I think it’s going to be a really good year.”