Alex Cora Confirms Brayan Bello’s Red Sox Opening Day Status

The Red Sox will be without last year’s Opening Day starter to begin the season.

Boston manager Alex Cora confirmed to reporters Tuesday that Brayan Bello will start the season on the injured list, per MassLive’s Sean McAdam and The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey.

Bello dealt with a shoulder injury during spring training but started to ramp up his work last week. There was optimism that the 25-year-old would avoid an IL stint. However, the right-hander is expected to sit out a month with the hope of returning in April.

“Just doesn’t make sense with where he’s at to push him, like rush everything and then something major happens,” Cora told reporters, per the Boston Herald’s Mac Cerullo.

Cora added that the Red Sox hope to play Bello in a game late in spring training but expect him to play a rehab game in Triple-A Worcester before activating him off the IL.

An Opening Day starter was not named as Cora and as his staff assess Boston’s rotation with two weeks ahead of the start of the MLB season.