SANTO DOMINGO, D.R. — Shortly after taking a circuitous route from the press conference room at Estadio Quisqueya, across a well-manicured field, through the concourse under the ballpark and past the batting cages, Brayan Bello arrived in the Boston Red Sox’s visiting clubhouse.
It was four hours before the first pitch of their exhibition series against the Tampa Bay Rays in Santo Domingo, but the festivities for a momentous day for the organization were well underway.
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Bello wore a gleaming gold watch and tailored, blue plaid suit as he entered the clubhouse, hugging several of his teammates, all of whom had packed into that press conference room alongside his family, David Ortiz, Red Sox coaches, front-office members and a throng of local Dominican media just moments earlier.
The Red Sox officially announced a six-year, $55 million extension with the right-hander Saturday, a deal that includes a $21 million option for a seventh season. The 24-year-old is well on his way to becoming their first homegrown starting pitcher to anchor the rotation in over a decade.
The fact that the deal came together just before this series in the Dominican Republic — Bello’s home country — added to the enormity of the day for the pitcher and for the franchise.
“I just want to say I’m very grateful to everybody who has helped put me in this position,” Bello said through interpreter Carlos Villoria-Benítez, before thanking family, friends, teammates, trainers, coaches and Red Sox ownership. “I’m going to give my 100 percent on the field and I cannot wait to wear this uniform for a long time.”
He paused, then added in English, “Let’s go Red Sox,” beaming with his signature wide smile.
In the words of Brayan Bello…
"Let's go Red Sox!" pic.twitter.com/OTAYJjHv70— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 9, 2024
Bello’s rise, from an 18-year-old who signed for $28,000 as an international free agent in July 2017 to a pitcher who’s expected to be a mainstay in the Boston rotation into the next decade, was not lost in the celebratory day.
Nor was the fact that another Dominican native, Rafael Devers, is entering year one of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract with the Red Sox that he signed last January.
The Red Sox have long touted their desire to lock up pieces of their future. That they’ve done so with two Dominican players in Devers and now Bello is significant for the island.
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The pair grew up in the same area, Samaná, about 100 miles north of Santo Domingo.
“Having two kids from Samaná, it’s crazy to think about it,” manager Alex Cora said. “I know Raffy hates it but he’s the Carita — ‘the face’ of the franchise, and then now we’ve got this kid that we’re hoping is everything we envisioned years ago and that he becomes the ace of this staff. It’s storybook. It’s crazy.”
Devers shared a similar sentiment on his teammate’s success and the rarity of their collective feat.
“There’s not many players from Samaná,” he said. “To have him here for the long term is great. I’m not comparing them, and I didn’t see Pedro (Martinez) pitch much, but I feel like he has that natural swag, that natural presence on the mound that can’t compare with anybody else. The way that he walks, the way he pitches, I feel like every time he pitches, I’m watching Pedro Martinez.”
The lofty shoes to fill may seem unfair to those on the outside, but Bello thrives on the Martinez comparisons. He’s spent the past several offseasons under the tutelage of Martinez at the Hall of Famer’s Dominican home. Just last week, Martinez was in Red Sox camp in Florida, working with Bello in a bullpen.
Martinez, who was at the exhibition game Saturday to throw out the first pitch alongside Ortiz, was happy to see Bello will be in Boston for the next several years.
Two Dominican baseball legends. 🐐
Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz toss out the first pitch at the #DominicanRepublicSeries. pic.twitter.com/h34ZF8t3qm
— MLB (@MLB) March 9, 2024
“I think the organization needed to do that,” Martinez said. “They needed to show the rest of the guys that are homegrown products, that they’re committed to keeping their product.”
Back in the Red Sox clubhouse, Ceddanne Rafaela, another key piece of Boston’s future, had his locker positioned next to Bello and beamed when his friend walked in.
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Rafaela wasn’t born in the D.R. but has baseball roots here nonetheless. Bello and Rafaela both signed in July 2017 and starred on the same Red Sox Dominican Summer League team the following year.
Rafaela recalled the first time he met Bello, before they’d even signed, at a tryout at the Red Sox’s Dominican Academy when he was 16 and Bello was 17. Despite Bello’s small stature, Rafaela immediately noticed and admired Bello’s confidence.
That confidence has served Bello well early in his career. Rafaela is hoping to join him soon as a big-league mainstay.
“It’s unreal,” Rafaela said. “If you think when we were only dreaming to be here, only hoping for one chance, one shot to get to the big leagues and establish ourselves and help the team, it’s unreal and it’s unreal to see him today on that stage. I’m very proud of him.”
There’s a special bond among Dominican Academy teammates, whose humble beginnings included 6 a.m. wake-ups for workouts and bunk beds with four players to a room, everyone friendly but also fighting to be the next star for the Red Sox. After a long embrace between the two, Bello took off his watch and gave it to Rafaela, who marveled at the intricacy of the piece, then nervously fiddled with the clasp as he temporarily couldn’t unlatch it.
Bello laughed.
The right-hander won’t pitch this weekend in front of family and friends. It’s a small inconvenience, though, for a chance to pitch on Opening Day in Seattle. Nothing has been finalized, but Cora suggested he wanted to keep Bello on his regular rest for that reason.
For years the Red Sox lamented the fact that their pitching pipeline was barren. Bello is not a superstar yet. He still has work to do, even if Devers sees a bit of Martinez in the young righty.
What’s most promising to Cora about Bello’s future is his quick ability to receive feedback and adapt.
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“I think everything we’ve thrown at him since (assistant GM) Eddie (Romero) and the group recognized that he was talented, he’s passed every obstacle,” Cora said. “I’ve had the pleasure of managing him the last two years and I’ve seen him be great and I’ve seen him struggle, but one thing about him, he’s not afraid. His baseball IQ is up there and he understands what he needs to do to be successful at this level, so you can throw stuff at him during starts, in between starts, it doesn’t really matter. He will make adjustments.”
Bello was the main attraction at the beginning of the day, but the exhibition series was a significant deal to the people of the Dominican Republic. As MLB and the players union seek to expand their international reach of the sport with games in Latin America, Europe, Japan and South Korea, the D.R. put on a show.
The rustic Estadio Quisqueya, built in 1955, has seen better days and hosts two Dominican winter league teams but was modernized ahead of this series to meet MLB’s playing standards. Signage for both the Rays and Red Sox plastered the stadium, a new grass field was laid out and better lights were installed.
A few pre game scenes from Estadio Quisqueya pic.twitter.com/oBJ9ad6gmV
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) March 9, 2024
Both Ortiz and Martinez hoped this series would mean more renovations — or perhaps a ballpark for the baseball-crazed country — soon.
“Hopefully, moving forward MLB will bring more games around and we’ll be able to build up a new stadium at some point, a new facility,” Ortiz said, alluding to the idea of regular-season games played in the Dominican Republic.
Cora recognized the importance of the weekend series to the area.
“We’re ambassadors of the game, we know where the game is at,” he said. “More than 40 percent of the players are minorities on big-league rosters so for that and for other reasons, we take it very seriously.”
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Even following the pomp and circumstance of Bello’s press conference and a busy pregame with Ortiz and Martinez stealing the show, the game lived up to expectations with nearly 12,000 rowdy fans filling the roughly 14,500 seat-stadium.
Red Sox baseball, in particular, is important in the Dominican Republic. There are five Dominican-born Hall of Famers in Ortiz, Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Juan Marichal and Vladimir Guerrero. All but Guerrero played for the Red Sox.
El Niño 🤝 El Grande pic.twitter.com/QCCBeWyjlT
— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 9, 2024
For the Red Sox and their Dominican players: Bello and Devers as well as Pablo Reyes, Enmanuel Valdez, Joely Rodríguez and minor-league right-hander Luis Guerrero, it was an unforgettable day.
But it was also a work day during spring training. Kutter Crawford started and threw three scoreless innings. Josh Winckowski added three more scoreless frames, while Valdez homered in front of his family and friends in the 4-0 shutout victory.
Yet the trip also served to break up the monotony of spring training and offer a bonding experience for the club. In addition to the whole front office making the trip, John and Linda Henry were in town and hosted the team on their yacht off the coast of the city Friday evening.
“We had a blast, it was good for the group,” Cora said. “(Friday) night, we had dinners all over the city and that really helps, too. (Spring training is) not only about PFPs and batting practice, the other part is chemistry and getting to know your teammates. Although we don’t have the whole group here, this group is having fun and I know they have a job to do.”
Sometimes trips like these can serve as a springboard for a season. The Red Sox hope they can bottle up the energy of this day, one that began with what Bello represents for the organization through the final score of a well-played game in a baseball-loving region.
(Photo of Pedro Martinez: Ricardo Hernandez / Associated Press)
