Red Sox projected 'ace' Brayan Bello must improve

In 2022, Brayan Bello was the top pitching prospect in the Red Sox minor league system, but the 25-year-old has looked like a shell of himself on the mound recently.

Bello debuted for Boston in 2022 but began establishing himself in the majors in 2023, fanning 132 batters across 157 innings of work. Red Sox fans expected a breakout season from the starter in 2024. Bello started for Boston on Opening Day and appeared to be the Sox's new ace with the departure of Chris Sale. 

But Bello has struggled. While boasting a 7-5 record, the starting pitcher has a 5.55 ERA. In his latest start, the righty only lasted 2.1 innings and gave up seven runs, the shortest outing of his career.

“I obviously didn’t want to come out of the game. I wanted to compete. I was kind of surprised when they took me out,” Bello said through translator Daveson Perez. “But, you know, a lot of runs that inning, a lot of pitches being thrown. But hopefully, moving forward, I don’t have a terrible outing like the one I just had, and this is the only short outing that I’ll have.”

This season, one of Bello's issues has been his inability to find the strike zone. Red Sox manager Alex Cora pointed this out to the media after the loss.

“We got to throw more strikes. That’s the most important thing regardless of the results,” Cora said via NESN. “We have to be more aggressive in the zone. He was 3-1 to Vladdy. That summarizes his outing. We got to throw more strikes.”

Bello leads Boston in walks with 29 so far this season.

Luckily for the Red Sox, starting pitcher Tanner Houck has been great, leading the charge in the rotation. But Bello must improve if the club has postseason aspirations. 

Boston is in third place in the AL East and only has a half-game lead over the Kansas City Royals for the third AL wild-card spot.