The only thing moving faster than a Brayan Bello fastball right now is the Red Sox farmhand's ascent up the prospects list.
Bello has established himself as a legitimate pitching prospect in the Boston farm system, as evidenced by his newest ranking on the latest Baseball America Top 100 prospect list. The right-handed pitcher has cracked the top 50 and sits at No. 49, BA revealed Thursday.
As a further testament to the work done by Chaim Bloom to overhaul the farm system, Bello is one of four Sox prospects in the top 50. Marcelo Mayer (No. 12), Triston Casas (No. 20) and Nick Yorke (No. 33) all made the list, too. Boston is the only organization with four players in the top 50.
Bello's jump was massive. He moved up 30 spots on the rankings and is the 16th-highest pitcher on the Baseball America list.
"Bello is armed with three above-average to plus pitches, including a high-90s fastball that's been as clocked as high as 100 mph," Bello's capsule reads. "… Bello possesses mid-rotation upside with a starter's pitch mix and velocity."
Bello started the 2022 season in Double-A Portland where he tore apart the Eastern League. The hard-throwing righty allowed just six earned runs in 33 2/3 innings, striking out 42 of the 129 batters he faced. The Red Sox ultimately made the decision to promote him to Triple-A Worcester, where he's more than four years younger than the average player. So far, he's handled himself well, winning all three of his starts while averaging nearly 14 strikeouts per inning.
The 23-year-old represented the Red Sox in the MLB Futures Game last summer.
