We’re officially 67 days from the start of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will be held from March 5th to the 17th. The pool plays will take place in Tokyo, Japan; Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The semi-finals and final will be played in Miami, FL. Over recent weeks, players have been announced to their countries’ teams. Regarding the Boston Red Sox, they’ve recently permitted one of their players to represent his country in the upcoming WBC.
Red Sox Brayan Bello Playing for the Dominican Republic
GettyBoston Red Sox’s Brayan Bello
It was first reported by Abraham Abreu of 9Entradas, who covers the Venezuelan Baseball league, that the Red Sox gave pitcher Brayan Bello permission to play in the WBC. Shawn Spradling, who covers the tournament, later confirmed that Bello will represent the Dominican Republic for the upcoming 2026 WBC.
Bello finished the 2025 season with a 3.35 ERA, while carrying an 11-9 record in 28 starts, and striking out 124 batters in over 166.2 innings. He did give up 16 home runs and walked 59 batters as well, but did have a career-high ERA+ of 123. In his age-26 season, he had a 2.5 wins above replacement (WAR), his second-best result in three seasons, when starting 28 or more games. Bello’s ERA+ of 123 was also the best when starting the same number of games or more in a season.
Furthermore, his 3.35 ERA was a career-best in his four-year MLB career. Despite Bello having his third-best strikeout season (career-high 153 in 2024), he still managed a solid season for the Red Sox. He made himself a solid No. 3 in the rotation over the course of the season and into the Wildcard round of the Postseason. He threw 4.1 more innings in 2025 than in 2024 and even had a complete game in the process, the second of his career.
Bello Taking a Step in 2025
What helped Bello was that he went from a 28-degree arm angle in 2024 to a 33-degree angle in 2025. Over the course of two seasons, the Red Sox saw him go from a four-pitch mix of a sinker, sweeper, change, and a 4-seam fastball in 2024 to a five-pitch mix that included a cutter in 2025.
In 2024, Bello used his sinker 40% of the time compared to his sweeper (28%), change (27%), and 4-seam (5%). Compared to 2025, when he threw his sinker 35% of the time, along with his sweeper (19%), cutter (16%), change (15%), and 4-seam (15%). That subtle change in his arm angle and the addition of the cutter gave him more out pitches. Furthermore, it played into Bello’s ground ball rate (84th percentile in 2025, 86th in 2024), which showcased how he pitched more into contact than swing and miss.
2024 saw Bello’s whiff% go from the 53rd percentile to 13% in 2025, while his barrel% went from the 56th to 69th. He played more into contact than going for strikeouts, which explains why it went from 153 to 124. Also, his WHIP went from 1.36 in 2024 to 1.24 in 2025, showcasing why he relied on the defense to get outs. It limited guys from getting on base and saw his ERA dip from 4.49 to 3.35.
Experience of WBC Breeds Motivation for 2026 Season
When it comes down to it, Bello deserves to play in the WBC for the DR after a solid 2025 season for the Red Sox. He added a cutter to his mix, evened out the distribution of his pitches, and is now going to showcase himself on an international stage like the WBC.
While the tournament will end right before games begin in Spring Training, hopefully, the extra work will get him nice and warm. The hope is that Bello isn’t tired going into camp, but an experience like the WBC could give him some motivation to take the next step in 2026. It should be interesting to see how Bello does for the DR in the WBC as we get another step closer to the start of the 2026 season for the Red Sox.
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