WooSox right-handed starter Brian Van Belle impressive in season debut
The WooSox were looking to get back on track Saturday afternoon after suffering a tough loss on Opening Day against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Right-hander Brian Van Belle was fantastic in his first start of the season for the WooSox. Van Belle tossed five shutout frames with no walks and six strikeouts.
The start was encouraging for Van Belle, who enters his second season with the WooSox. Last season, he made 12 starts for Worcester following his callup from Double-A Portland. Van Belle went 5-4 with a 6.41 ERA in 60 1/3 innings (13 games) for the WooSox.
Van Belle, 27, posted a 3.00 ERA and 4.14 FIP with 69 strikeouts to 25 walks in 14 appearances (13 starts) spanning 81 innings of work for the Sea Dogs before his promotion to Worcester.
The most impressive part of Van Belle’s start on Saturday was his ability to get bats to swing and miss (12 total), including six on his changeup, arguably the best pitch in his arsenal.
Zack Kelly made his debut by working around a pair of walks in a hitless sixth inning. The righty is with the WooSox after not making the Red Sox Opening Day roster. Kelly had one strikeout, facing five batters in the frame. He threw 20 pitches in his appearance, eight of them for strikes.
A name to watch in the WooSox bullpen this season is left-hander Cam Booser. The southpaw impressed Alex Cora during camp down in Florida.
“He throws 97, 98. Sometimes he hits 99. And he’s been able to land the off-speed pitches for strikes,” Cora said of Booser in mid-March during spring training. “He’s been really good. He had a great second half last year. Talking to Worcester Red Sox manager Chad Tracy, something clicked there that got him in the strike zone. And he’s been doing the same thing here in spring training.”
Booser ran into some trouble during his appearance, allowing two runs while punching out four batters. The lefty worked a clean seventh inning but ran into issues in the eighth inning. Kody Clemens opened the frame with a line drive single to left field. After two quick outs, Booser hit Nick Podkul and gave up a double to Jordan Luplow, scoring two runs to tie the game.
Following plating three runs to take the 5-2 lead in the ninth, WooSox skipper Chad Tracy turned to Chase Shugart to slam the door in the ninth. Shugart only needed 17 pitches, 10 of them for strikes, to collect one strikeout and his first save of 2024 in a clean ninth inning.
