The Boston Red Sox locked up right-hander Brayan Bello to a six-year, $55 million contract extension this week and after signing the deal, the Dominican starter revealed some lofty goals for his big league career.
Via Alex Speier:
“Bello on how he would define success during the course of this contract: “Signing a contract was one big step in my career, but that’s already put to the side.” Cites goals of Cy Young, being an All-Star, winning 20 games, and perhaps making the Hall of Fame.”
While those are all phenomenal aspirations, some fans on X were wondering why Bello didn’t say he wanted to win a World Series with the Red Sox. I’m sure that’s also a goal of Bello’s though, despite not mentioning it.
The 25-year-old, who is the Red Sox’s first homegrown starter since Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, went 12-11 with a 4.28 ERA in 2023, striking out 132 hitters in 157 innings of work. Overall, he owns a 4.37 ERA across two seasons in the Majors, but he made just 11 starts in 2022.
An ERA over four isn’t phenomenal, but Brayan Bello has the potential to be a No. 1 option for Boston. This is just the start for him. Assistant GM Eddie Romero spoke highly of Bello’s ceiling last summer when negotiations about a new deal began. Via The Athletic:
“He’s basically done what he needs to do and what we would want of a young starting pitcher in this organization and he’s gone about it the right way,” Romero said. “He’s a great teammate and he’s improved the quality of his repertoire, he’s a very hard worker, and he’s earned the respect of everybody here so he’s the kind we want to stick around obviously.”
We’ll see if Brayan Bello potentially gets the ball on Opening Day.
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