3 takeaways from The Boston Globe’s profile of Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello
Bello signed a six-year, $55 million contract extension earlier this week.
Alex Speier of The Boston Globe published a feature story Friday morning about Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello, who signed a six-year $55 million extension this week.
Speier called the deal “a bit of a landmark” for the Red Sox, who ensured that the homegrown Bello is under contract into the next decade.
Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Bello grew up in a small town baseball scouts rarely even see. He moved to Santo Domingo at age 15 for a shot at his big league dream, and met a trainer who helped mold him into the pitcher he is today.
The Red Sox weren’t the first to discover Bello, but they offered him the remaining $28,000 in their 2017-18 scouting budget and the rest was history.
Here’s three takeaways from Speier’s tale of how a short and skinny kid became a “foundational player” for the Red Sox.
From Las Galeras to Santo Domingo
Bello’s hometown, Las Galeras, is a small town at the end of the Samana peninsula in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic.
Speier said the location was not unlike how Provincetown is on the tip of Cape Cod.
Scouts rarely came to Las Galeras until a new highway made the trip two hours shorter than it was previously. But, Bello still felt that he had to move to a bigger city for the best shot at a big league career.
Bello went to Santo Domingo after meeting trainer Diofante de Peña who also helped develop two-time All-Star Fernando Rodney.
“Everybody who is from Samaná has to go to San Pedro, Santiago, or Santo Domingo,” Bello said through a translator. “It was very difficult for me because I was in Samaná with my family, with my cousins, with my brothers, with my siblings, and everybody. It was very hard for me to leave.”
How the Red Sox got involved
Bello was a “short and skinny” kid when he got to Santo Domingo at age 15, Peña said. He didn’t throw particularly hard at the time either, with a fastball topping out at 74 miles per hour.
But, the potential was there and so was interest from scouts. Bello nearly signed a $150,000 deal with the Phillies at age 16 but an arm issue during a workout caused the deal to fall through.
Often times, the market for Dominican players dries up for players who are unsigned past age 16, Speier wrote.
Bello grew desparate to sign and considered taking a $10,000 deal from the Rockies. Pena encouraged him to wait for a better deal. That’s where the Red Sox came in.
The Red Sox watched Bello pitch about 25 times, the trainer estimated. Boston offered a $10,00 deal that was rejected. Then, eventually, the Red Sox upped their offer to $28,000 and Bello accepted.
“We decided to go in Boston’s direction because we believed Boston was a better organization with a better development path,” said Peña. “And today, he’s a big leaguer.”
An inspiration and a “North Star” for young Dominican pitchers
Seven years after signing his first deal with the Red Sox, Bello has a spot in the rotation and is one of two pitchers manager Alex Cora is considering as the Opening Day starter.
He has inspired other young pitchers who want to follow in his footsteps.
“Pride,” Robert Almeida, a 17-year-old in Peña’s program, said through a translator. “If he did it, one of us can do it — somebody else can do it.”
Bello splits time between Samana and Santo Domingo in the offseason. Signing the deal was a big accomplishment. The Red Sox are betting that there are many more to come.
“Bello’s kind of an inspiration and a north star,” Peña said through a translator. “It’s a beautiful story, what we lived out with Bello. The way he got there is difficult. It wasn’t obvious.”
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