Bellozo mastering mental game early in MLB career

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter, written this week by Paige Leckie. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MIAMI -- It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Valente Bellozo. From being traded to the Marlins at the beginning of April to making his Major League debut in June after five years in the Minors, there’s been a lot of change. But through it all, Bellozo has stayed true to himself and delivered quality stuff.

The secret to his success? Bellozo has been seeing a sports psychologist for just over a year.

“It's changed all my career, all my life, too,” Bellozo said. “[It’s] helped me a lot, being on the field, living more present and [not] thinking of the future or past. And overall, talking about baseball, being on the mound [and] having that confidence, that aggressiveness, and enjoying and embracing every moment.”

Growing up, Bellozo knew he was an underdog. Even after signing with the Astros in 2017 as an international free agent, he knew he wasn’t going to be the hardest-throwing or the biggest pitcher out there. But that hasn’t stopped him. Through his work with his psychologist, former big leaguer Freddy Sandoval, Bellozo has grown his confidence and learned how to approach each game as just that, a game.

Part of the key for Bellozo in his success is recognizing that he doesn’t need to be someone, or something, that he’s not. He’s not going out on the mound trying to be the next coming of Cy Young or early Jacob deGrom. He’s taking the ball every fifth day and, so far, delivering pretty electric results.

“I'm an average size, I don't pitch hard, and I need to demonstrate that,” Bellozo said. “I need to think that I'm the best pitcher over here, because there's a lot of big league hitters here. … And when they see that you're afraid or [have] no confidence, they're gonna be on top of you every time. So I think that's really good, right now, for me, the approach of more playing mentally than talent, because everybody has the talent. It's more mental.”

The mental game is working like a charm. While he’s started just six games thus far, Bellozo’s 2.45 ERA is leagues lower than the rest of the Marlins’ starters -- the closest is Ryan Weathers, who posted a 3.55 ERA in 13 starts before hitting the injured list on June 8 with a left index finger strain. He hasn’t pitched since.

Bellozo’s numbers exhibit his unique qualities. The average launch angle against him (26 degrees) is over twice the league average (12.3). His ground ball rate is half the league average (22.9% vs. 44.5%) while he induces popups twice as much as other pitchers across the league (15.6% vs. 7.1%).

“It's a very unique profile -- one that I have not seen, honestly, at this level, where he has got a lot of outs in the air and not a ton of punchouts,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Now, he has punched out guys -- I think the Boston game [on July 2], he struck out [eight] guys -- but for the most part, he's getting outs and getting deep in the games.

“Ride the highs, that's what I'm all about. Ride it as long as you can, because if you're getting outs in the big leagues, obviously you're missing barrels, and that's a big deal.”

Bellozo is certainly missing the barrels; he’s allowed just three homers over his six starts so far and, though his fly ball rate is almost nine percentage points above the league average, it doesn’t matter.

In August alone, Bellozo has gone 2-0 with a 1.57 ERA in four starts, the eighth-lowest ERA among qualifying NL pitchers. Not too shabby for a guy who hadn’t pitched above Double-A entering this season. And so much of it is thanks to his confidence.

“The one thing about him is he brings energy,” Schumaker said. “He is walking around -- I've said it before, he acts like he's Max Scherzer, which is awesome to see. I'm not comparing those two, don't get me [wrong], I'm not saying that. But the demeanor should be something that a lot of these other pitchers should look at and be like, 'I should be more like that instead being scared on the mound.'”