Pedro Martinez on hand for Brayan Bello BP session; RHP can watch and learn from 'true aces' in the Red Sox rotation
Red Sox starter Brayan Bello, who has been sidelined with right shoulder soreness since the start of camp, threw a bullpen on Friday afternoon.
Bello told reporters that he wasn’t throwing at max effort and was at around 70-75%.
“They told me to stay within 80-90 mph,” Bello said through translator Daveson Perez at JetBlue Park. “So just a very light session.”
Bello and the Red Sox are hopeful that he will be ready for Opening Day in a few weeks. The righty said he feels strong but taking it slow as he ramps up his baseball activities.
“The body’s good. The shoulders are good. The mechanics are good,” Bello said. “Just taking it day-day by day, I felt good today.”
The 25-year-old will need to check in with trainers as to how many bullpens and live batting practices he will need to throw before he can participate in a spring training game.
“The trainers are telling me that I’m right on track as long as I just keep doing my work that I’ve been doing,” Bello said. “Just getting ready for that.”
Bello’s mentor, Pedro Martinez, was on hand to watch the hurler’s bullpen session.
“I don’t want any setbacks,” Martinez said. “That was my main concern. I said, 'You can’t afford to have another setback.' I made sure that he's not overly excited. I explained that to him way before.
“There’s no rush for him trying to kill it in the first bullpen, and I pretty much just explained that from my own experience. Yeah, sometimes you want to show a little bit too much early. And also, I don't blame him for that. He’s young and energetic, and [young pitchers] want to do too much sometimes, and they forget that tomorrow is right there for them too.”
Bello, who was the Sox’ Opening Day starter last season, made 30 starts, one of three pitchers to eclipse the 30-start mark. The righty posted a 14-8 record with a 4.49 ERA while recording 153 strikeouts to 64 walks in 162 1/3 innings.
Boston reinforced their rotation in the offseason, adding Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler, which should help ease the pressure on Bello, Tanner Houck, Lucas Giolito, and Kutter Crawford once he eventually pitches for the Sox this season.
“Well, the biggest deal for [Bello] is that Giolito, Buehler, Crochet -- all those guys are going to take pressure off of him,” Martinez said. “Remember last year, he was the Opening Day guy, and that’s a lot of pressure for a kid who is still just coming into the league. That's very unusual.
“He’s going to get to enjoy and watch and learn from them every single day. He can feed off those guys and see how they approach different hitters and how they handle themselves. Watching true aces go out there and how they handle themselves, I think that experience is going to be the biggest and most important thing for him.”
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