Red Sox Activate Brayan Bello From Injured List

The Red Sox announced this morning that the club had activated the right-hander Brayan Bello from the 15-day injured list. Right-handed Josh Winckowski was opted for Triple-A in the corresponding move. Bello is expected to start this afternoon’s game against the Nationals at Fenway Park.

Bello, who will celebrate her 25th birthday later this week, has been on set since late April due to a bout of side oppression. Before the injury, the young right-hander had solidly pitched in five starts with the Red Sox this year with a 3.04 ERA and 4.06 FIP in 26 2/3 innings of work. He has struck out a respectable 23.6% of batters faced and generated ground balls at a rate of 51.3% during that span, although 19% of his fly balls leaving the field for home runs stands out as a potential wake-up call in an otherwise impressive debut. performance of the season.

This success on the mound has been comparable to that of the Red Sox starters this year, as the club’s 2.42 rotation ERA is the best number in the majors to this point in the season thanks to excellent starts from the share of players like Kutter Crawford And Tanner Houck. With right-handed Nick Pivetta having also been activated from the injured list in recent days, the club’s rotation is once again approaching full strength. While I’m right Garrett Whitlock remains on the shelf due to oblique deformation, right Cooper Criswell performed admirably in his absence with a 2.10 ERA and 3.94 FIP in 25 2/3 innings of work.

Winckowski, who turns 26 next month, will make room for Bello on the active roster. It’s a somewhat surprising move considering his success over the past two seasons. The right-hander was among the best multi-inning relief arms in all of baseball last year as he posted a 2.88 ERA with a 3.91 FIP in 84 1/3 innings of work in 60 appearances . He hasn’t quite maintained that performance this year, although he still enjoyed solid results with a 3.33 ERA and 4.27 FIP in 24 1/3 innings of work.

Although that kind of performance would seem to warrant a spot in the club’s bullpen over other option arms such as Cam Booster, it is worth noting that Winckowski’s peripherals have deteriorated significantly this year. The right-hander has struggled with missing bats this year as his strikeout rate has fallen from a respectable 22.3% last year to just 16.8% this season. Meanwhile, his walk rate increased from 8.4% to 9.7% and his ground ball rate dropped more than five points after hitting a solid 51.2% last season. These shaky peripheral numbers suggest that a regression could have been on the horizon for Winckowski had he remained in the majors, a possibility supported by the high levels of 4.53 xFIP and 5.43 xERA.

Moving forward, Winckowski will head to the Triple-A level and look to recapture what made him such an effective reliever for the club last season, while also acting as an optional depth arm that the club can rely on. support alongside the former NPB starter. Naoyuki Uwasawa. Meanwhile, the Red Sox appear ready to lean on the right-hander Justin Slater To fill the kind of high-leverage, multi-inning role they turned to Winckowski for last year. Slaten has impressed in 13 contests this year with a 1.74 ERA and 2.34 FIP in 20 2/3 innings of work.