Red Sox Prospects: Brayan Bello tosses no-hitter in Double-A Portland
Red Sox pitching prospect Brayan Bello tosses a no-hitter in Double-A
Brayan Bello is already listed as the fifth overall prospect in the Boston Red Sox system, and the top pitcher. On Thursday he likely rose his stock even further, as he tossed a no-hitter for Double-A Portland.
Bello has been utterly dominant all season long. The 22-year-old came into the game with four starts under his belt. During that time, the right-handed pitcher had a 2.61 ERA in 20 2/3 innings. Bello also had a .176 BAA and 1.02 WHIP. Oh, and 32 strikeouts.
Those are really strong numbers. And now they’ve only gotten better.
In the second game of a doubleheader, Bello tossed seven shutout innings (doubleheaders are still seven-inning games in the minors). He walked three batters and struck out five. One run did come across the plate against Bello, but it was unearned (Portland had two errors on the day).
That didn’t phase Bello, as he kept hitters off-balance all day. Thanks to some timely offense (that included a two-run home run from Hudson Potts), the Sea Dogs scored three runs, which was more than enough for Bello on this night.
The Red Sox have not had the best season in 2022. Their offense has been lackluster, and that’s putting it extremely nicely. Meanwhile, the pitching has been wildly inconsistent and they can’t seem to stop blowing leads late in games.
So it’s nice to find some positives for the future. Brayan Bello has been looking like a shining light for a long time now. And he might be getting a little more of a national push now. More recognition from people outside of the Red Sox bubble.
Elite pitching prospects are hard to come by. Brayan Bello has shot up the Boston Red Sox rankings quickly in the last few years though. 2022 seemed like it would be a real test for him. Could he prove himself at a higher level in the minors? Through four games the answer was a resounding “yes”. Now, with a no-hitter under his belt, it feels like there is no limit to just how good he could be.