Brayan Bello is helping Boston hunt down the AL East lead. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
This week, Julio Rodriguez became the first player to enjoy 20-20 campaigns in each of his first four years; the Marlins earned their first ever sweep of the Yankees; and Miguel Vargas has landed on the IL with an oblique strain. Other Fantasy baseball stories we’re tracking include…
Brayan Bello Keeps Rocking
The Boston Red Sox got back to .500 ball last year after two straight losing seasons, but this season they have their eyes on a first playoff appearance since 2021.
After dumping the Royals 8-5 on Monday, Boston has now won six straight and is 8-2 over the last 10, making it the hottest team in baseball. This run has shot the club into second place in the AL East, just three games back of Toronto and into the top spot in the Wild Card race.
A big part of Boston’s success has been the strong recent performance of starting pitcher Brayan Bello, buoying hopes that the team has enough starting pitching to make some noise.
It’s been over three years since he made his first career start and we pimped him as a waiver wire add, and that pick bore fruit as he pitched better and better until taking a beatdown in his season finale.
Bello was even sharper in 2023 thanks to dramatically improved control, but last year he endured regression. He’s bounced back this season and is enjoying a career-best effort, again proving mostly durable (although a shoulder woe in Spring Training set him back), posting a sweet record and recording his best ERA ever.
You have to go back to mid-May to find the last time Bello has given up more than three earned runs in a start as he’s looked stronger and stronger since June (including tossing his first ever nine-inning complete game last month… see video below). On Monday, he was particularly sharp, holding the Royals to six hits, one walk and one unearned run over six innings.
The key to Bello’s development has been a reduction in his home run rate each season. And there’s still upside; his most common offering (sinker) hasn’t been effective this year, while his fastball (16 per cent usage) has worked well. Some tweaks to his pitch selection could unlock even greater results.
When Bello was coming up through the minors, he projected as a mid-rotation starter with potential as a No. 2, and that’s exactly where he’s settled in behind team ace Garrett Crochet.
Taijuan Walker’s Strange Season
Over in the NL East, the Philadelphia Phillies have played well enough lately to regain the top spot over the Mets, but suddenly the surging Marlins are within shouting distance, so this division race could actually be fun down the stretch.
For Phillies pitcher Taijuan Walker, it’s certainly been a strange season, and honestly, we’re not sure what the odds would have been on how his 2025 was going to play out, especially given his recent history.
His Philadelphia debut in 2023 didn’t go so well, but last year was a complete shitshow as his contract looked like a major overpay and he wound up being banished to the bullpen down the stretch.
Walker was back in the rotation to begin this season, and looked very strong at the outset, recording a 2.54 ERA through his first half dozen starts. But by early May, he began shuttling back and forth from long relief to the rotation and by June through early July, he was used in short relief, although started getting stretched out again towards the end of that period.
After moving back into the rotation nearly a month ago, Walker has remained there with mostly middling results. All told, it’s been a better year for him as his record isn’t as rancid and he’s shown his best control since coming to Philly. Still, at 1.36, Walker’s WHIP isn’t where you’d like to see it, limiting him to an NL-only league asset at this point, but as long as he’s starting, he’s worth tracking as we head down the stretch.
He takes the mound Tuesday at home against a meh Oriole offense, but he’ll need to show better command to have a chance to earn his first win since late-June. And that also obviously means pitching somewhat deep into the game (sixth inning, perhaps?). But honestly, it’s hard to believe Walker hurled nearly 175 innings in his first season in Philadelphia as he sure hasn’t looked anything resembling a workhorse since.
Waiver Wire Pick of the Week
Warming Bernabel, 1B/3B, Colorado Rockies (ESPN: 18.5 per cent; CBS: 49 per cent): Perhaps Bernabel should change his first name to “Hot” because he’s been absolutely raking since being promoted to the bigs for his MLB debut in late-July. This is a dude who’s not really been on the Fantasy radar, making a slow climb through the Rockies system. And while he was enjoying a big year at Triple-A (.301/.356/.450), nothing in his recent history had prepared us for his amazing run in the bigs so far (1266 OPS through nine games). Yes, small sample size alert, but when anyone is hitting this well, he needs to be grabbed in all formats. Bernabel doesn’t hit the ball very hard, so extreme regression to the mean is coming, but he is a tremendous contact hitter, and that’s a great skill. Just don’t expect much extra-base pop here.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
Sly and the Family Stone was the perfect blend of funk, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel and R&B. Here’s “Music Lover,” part of its medley on the official Woodstock album.