FORT MYERS, Fla. — Rafael Devers recently said that he feels like he’s watching Pedro Martinez every time 24-year-old righty Brayan Bello pitches.
Martinez and Bello, both Dominican Republic natives, certainly share similarities with mid-to-upper-90s fastballs and devastating changeups. They also have some of the same mannerisms.
But there’s one distinct difference at this point. Bello doesn’t yet have the high strikeout rate that Martinez did. Bello averaged 7.6 strikeouts in his first full major league season last year. He has averaged 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings in his career so far. Martinez led the league in strikeouts per nine innings in five of seven seasons during his prime from 1997-2003 (age 25-31). During that stretch, he averaged 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings and had a 31.8% strikeout percentage.
Bello has been excellent at inducing groundballs. His 56.3% groundball percentage was in the 92nd percentile in the major leagues last year. But limiting contact and getting more swing and miss is important. He was in the 37th percentile in whiff percentage (24.4%) and 26th percentile in strikeout percentage (19.8%). Opponents batted .270 against him last year. He has a .283 batting average against in his 41 MLB appearances.
Earlier this month, Bello signed a $55 million contract that can max out at $75 million. The Red Sox view him as a front of the rotation starter long-term. But he knows he needs to add more strikeouts to his game to reach his full potential.
“Of course I would like to strike out more batters. That’s why I’m trying to improve my other secondary pitches,” Bello told MassLive through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez.
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His changeup is his best pitch. Opponents batted just .196 with a .171 expected batting average, .291 slugging percentage and .256 expected slugging percentage against it last year.
It also was his second most used pitch last year behind his sinker. He threw it 23.9% of the time.
“For me, it’s always important to have that ability (to get strikeouts),” Bello said. “If you’re in a bases loaded jam, and you need to get somebody out without a ground ball, to have that ability to strike out a batter whenever you need to (is important). And also, to have the ability to get that ground ball for a double play. So yeah, I think of course I would like to improve on that.”
The focus right now is on continuing to improve his slider, which opponents batted .304 with a .457 slugging percentage against last year.
“My changeup … that’s like my only secondary pitch I can locate and trust in any kind of situation,” Bello said. “Obviously in the offseason and spring training, I was working on the slider, kind of a super slider, a pitch that I would like to control and be able to throw in any situation to get that swing and miss.”
He threw 951 sinkers (648 to right-handed batters and 303 left-handed batters) last year. It was his most frequently used pitch as he went to it 36.3% of the time. Its average velocity was 95 mph, per Baseball Savant.
Throwing a sinker so often obviously helps him get groundballs.
“I think my changeup, too. I throw my changeup down in the zone and that changeup helps me to get weak contact,” he said.
Bello visited Martinez’s house in the Dominican for a few days in the offseason. They focused on improving his slider.
Has Martinez stressed to him the need to strike out more batters?
“Pedro never told me that,” Bello said. “I think with Pedro, we are just working on pitches. I think that will come with time. So I don’t get anxious or anything. I know when my other secondary pitches are where I want them to be, that will come.”
Bello’s four-seamer needs to be more effective, too. Opponents batted .310 against it last year.
From age 20-24, Martinez averaged 8.9 strikeouts. So his punch-out rate did increase significantly in his prime.
Bello was extremely efficient last year, pitching six or more innings in 17 of his final 25 starts. Of course, fewer strikeouts can help keep a hurler’s pitch count low, allowing him to stay in the game longer. So he does need to find a balance with striking out more batters but also continuing to pitch deep into games.
“Especially last year, I was like, ‘I’m not striking out many batters so I’m going to try to get out of the innings quicker,’” Bello said. “That way, I was kind of making up for the time I lost at the beginning of the year.”
Bello missed the first couple of weeks in 2023 because of right elbow inflammation.
“So for me, my focus last year was just to get more outs with fewer pitches,” Bello said.
