A Quick Move Up the Ranks
The Boston Red Sox are making a change for their young pitcher Jose Bello. The 21-year-old right-hander is heading from Single-A Salem to High-A Greenville. This move comes after he spent the first five months of the season with the RidgeYaks. For the High-A season’s last seven contests, he will join the Drive. This news broke after Yahoo Sports reported on the roster shuffle. It marks a fresh start for the player the team got when they traded Rafael Devers.
That deal was a huge shock to fans last year. Rafael Devers, the star designated hitter, was sent by the Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants. In return, they got starter Kyle Harrison and two prospects. Those prospects were made up of outfielder James Tibbs III and pitcher Jose Bello. After many moves since then, Bello is the only one of those original pieces left in the system. His path has not been a straight line, but the team sees enough to push him forward.
Numbers Tell a Tough Story
Bello had a strange season in Salem. He posted a 4.34 ERA over 66.1 innings in 18 appearances. On the surface, those stats look decent for a young arm. However, deeper numbers suggest he got lucky to keep that run total low. His fielding-independent pitching, or FIP, sat at 5.53. That is a big gap that points to trouble under the hood. The pitcher struggled to miss bats, generating whiffs on just 20.5 percent of pitches.
This strikeout mark is very low for a top prospect. Among Single-A pitchers, it sits in the ninth percentile. He also had trouble getting batters to chase bad pitches. His chase rate was just 26.5 percent. When you add it all up, he had a paltry 16.6 percent strikeout rate. Bello allowed a high zone contact rate of 89.3 percent. That number falls in the 12th percentile. A 51.8 percent ground ball rate helped him limit the damage, but the lack of swings and misses is a real concern.
What the Scouts Say About His Future
SoxProspects.com does not even rank Bello in their top 60 players. The site notes that he is an “Intriguing right-hander whose career got off to a slow start, but has shown solid stuff and bat-missing ability in the complex leagues.” They note he is still learning how to pitch. His arsenal and size lead the report to suggest a long-term bullpen role. That is not the dream outcome for a starter, but it fits the data.
The Red Sox have other young players doing better right now. Former top prospect Kristian Campbell started August hot but has cooled off since. Meanwhile, Justin Gonzales is crushing it in Double-A Portland. Gonzales is hitting .393 with two home runs in his first seven games there.
