The first professional baseball game was played in 1869, so “unprecedented” is an overused word in dugouts and press boxes. About the only unprecedented thing left in the game is a five-run homer.
There is still plenty of unusual, though, and what happened before Sunday afternoon’s game at Polar Park fell into that category when Brayan Bello reported to the Worcester Red Sox after being optioned here from Boston.
Established major leaguers are often sent to the minors for conditioning or rehab, but rarely because their careers have gone Humpty Dumpty and they are searching for the super glue to put everything back together again.
It happened here in September, 2022 when Boston optioned Bobby Dalbec to the WooSox. At the time, Dalbec had played 273 major league games with 45 home runs to his credit.
He has yet to re-establish himself as a big leaguer and is currently playing in Japan.
Before the WooSox took over Boston’s Triple-A affiliation there was the strange case of Rusney Castillo. He was signed for big money, was expected to be a frontline big leaguer but played only 99 games in Boston and 467 in Pawtucket.
Bello is 41-42 in the majors and has pitched in 112 games.
Bello took last week’s demotion hard, but appeared to have his emotions under control when he checked in to Polar Park Sunday morning. Accompanied by translator Daveson Perez of the Boston Red Sox, Bello answered questions cordially, one of them about his stunning demotion.
“It was a really tough day, a really tough day,” Bello said. “I had had a bad outing as you all know. We were getting ready to travel and the trip to New York right now is a family trip, and we were set up to get ready to go out there, and when I got the unfortunate news I shed some tears, got a little emotional.
“To get that bad news was really tough, but we’re better today.”
In Boston, Bello had terrible first innings but excellent ones to follow. His issues seem to be mental, not physical. He will work on that part of his game, a part that can’t be measured on a radar gun.
“The most important thing is to have those people in your corner who are important to you,” Bello said, “who are able to tell you what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, and coming up with solutions, and thankfully I have that person (Pedro Martinez perhaps, but Bello would not comment), who I can talk to them.
“I’m looking forward to that conversation.”
There are other corrections to work on, according to Bello.
Location is one. The same game plan that succeeded last year but needs to be changed in 2026. Bello will work on making his mechanics more fluid, as well.
He was asked for his reaction to Boston general manager Craig Breslow’s perspective that Bello needs to regain his love of baseball.
“I will never not love this game,” Bello said. “It’s a game that I’ve done since I was very little. That’s why I take it to heart when we lose games or I pitch not my best. It makes those tough times so much harder.
“The more you play this game the more you realize how many ups and downs there are … I’m looking forward to being here and looking forward for my good moment to come.”
Plans are for Bello start one of Thursday’s games in Rochester.
“Whatever decisions they make are the ones I have to follow,” he said. “I’m focused on getting better and going with whatever decisions they make.”
This will be Bello’s fourth season making an appearance for the WooSox. He is 6-4 with a 3.77 ERA in 15 games pitched, all of them starts. Bello has struck out 99 in 74 1/3 innings.
His last game for Worcester was not that long ago. Bello worked four innings in a start versus Columbus at Polar Park on April 11, 2025.
Sunday morning, Bello recalled “fun times from the past…I know that’s coming soon.”
He is planning to talk to the special person he mentioned and “work through some things, mentally and mechanically.”
Triple-A baseball is mostly about development, but occasionally about re-development. Bello went through Phase 1 of that here. Phase 2 starts this week.
