Brayan Bello has emerged as one of the best young pitchers in MLB today, but he has one odd weakness as a pitcher — he really struggles during day games. It was on full display in a game early Wednesday when he struggled versus the Texas Rangers. In that game, he only lasted three innings before giving up eight hits and four walks to combine for eight earned runs, while only striking out two.
During the 2023 season, Bello has struggled massively in day games. He has pitched in 10 day games in 2023 and holds a record of 3-5 with an ERA of 6.94. To put that into more of a perspective, he is worse than the average Oakland Athletics pitcher in day games.
Bello is one of the best young pitchers but has been that way because he thrived in night games. In 17 night games in the 2023 season, he holds a record of 9-5 with an ERA of 2.80, which would put him in consideration for a Cy-Young award if he could constantly pitch like that.
Brayan Bello has a second weakness that makes him struggle even more
According to twinspires, there are five teams with "Artificial turf," one of these teams includes the Texas Rangers, where Bello pitched yesterday. When pitching on turf, Bello holds a record of 1-2 with an 8.40 ERA, but on grass is, again, an elite player with a record of 11-8 with an ERA of just 3.64.
Both of the factors that most negatively affect him as a pitcher merged together to make him completely crumble. He already struggled with day games, but when that day game is on turf, it makes him oddly worse.
Brayan Bello has been a dominant pitcher who was ranked as the top Red Sox prospect for a while, and he has shown his potential but has struggled with inconsistency. The Hall of Fame pitcher, who also played with the Red Sox, Pedro Martinez, said this about Bello: "He is way more talented than I am," and finished with, "I wish, I WISH I had the talent that Brayan Bello has when I was coming up. He's way more talented than I am," according to the Boston Herald.