Alex Cora explains decision to send down Brayan Bello
“This is about now. This is not about his future.”
On April 17, the Red Sox activated 23-year-old pitcher Brayan Bello from the injured list. Exactly seven days and eight earned runs later, the promising righthander was optioned down to the minors.
When asked about his decision to demote the hard throwing sinker baller, Red Sox manager Alex Cora gave a direct answer.
“Where we’re at right now, this is the move we had to make,” Cora said. “This is about now. This is not about his future.”
Heading into the week, the pressing need for the Red Sox was not a sixth arm in their rotation but rather a reinforcement to their bullpen. With relievers Zack Kelly, Chris Martin, and Joely Rodriguez all on the IL, the team called up lefthander Brennan Bernardino to take Bello’s spot.
According to Cora, Bello being sent down had more to do with the math of the upcoming schedule rather than the pitcher’s production.
Boston used five different relievers on Saturday and Sunday, with Richard Bleier and John Schreiber each pitching back-to-back days. The team also has 12 games in its next 13 days, so swapping Bernardino for Bello, who pitched Sunday, made the most sense.
Although Bello has struggled so far this season with a 9.82 ERA across two starts, Cora is confident in the abilities that he’s shown throughout his minor league career and in the majors last season.
“This is not about development, it’s part of the business,” Cora said. “He’ll be part of this at one point again, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Last year for Boston, the righty averaged 96 miles per hour on his sinker and 97 on his four seamer. The flame-throwing, combined with a devastating changeup, gave him some of the best stuff on the roster, even though his 4.71 ERA wasn’t eye-popping.
This year his sinker has still played well and he has generated a swing and miss over 50 percent of the time on his changeups, but his slider got him in trouble in his two starts. On Patriots Day, three Angels got hits off of his slider, and on Sunday against the Brewers, three more players did, including Brian Anderson, who took a hanger deep.
Following his demotion, Bello will spend at least 15 days in the minors but will be able to be called up for a six-game homestand for the Red Sox beginning on May 12 against the Cardinals.
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