The Red Sox and right-hander are actively engaged in contract discu sions, . While the 24-year-old righty didnt put a specific timetable on when an agreement might come together, he suggested its po sible that a deal could come together this spring. Bello has long been viewed as a potential core piece for the Sox. Prior to making his big league debut in 2022, he was widely regarded as one of the Sox five to ten best prospects. Hed posted strong numbers in the upper minors and drawn praise from scouts for both a plus changeup and potentially plus heater, leading to projections as a future mid-rotation arm if all went according to plan. Through the first season-plus of his career, Bello has pitched 214 1/3 innings of 4.37 ERA ball. His 20% strikeout rate is below the league average, but his 7.7% walk rate is better than average and his 56.1% ground-ball rate is among the best in the game for starting pitchers. That grounder rate and his command have led fielding-independent metrics to be a bit more bullish on the righty than his earned run average (4.11 FIP, 4.14 SIERA). Bellos four-seamer and more heavily used sinker have both been hit hard by MLB opponents, but that highly touted changeup has indeed stood out as a clear plus pitch for him; opponents have batted just .186 and slugged only .256 off the pitch in his career thus far. Thats been his only pitch with consistently strong results to date, but Bello sits 95.2 mph on his sinker and 95.7 mph on his four-seamer, so the velocity is certainly there for him to find succe s with his primary offerings. His 11% swinging-strike rate and 32.1% opponents chase rate are both right in line with the league-average marks, so theres room for his strikeout rate to creep up a bit even in the absence of significant gains with his fastballs. To this point in his career, Bello has ama sed 1.082 years of major league service time. That puts him on track to be eligible for arbitration in the 2025-26 offseason and keeps him under Red Sox control through at least the 2028 season. Contract extensions for starting pitchers in this service bracket have been surprisingly rare in recent years, . For a whole decade, s five-year, $35MM extension with the Giants back in April of 2012 Tony Carr Jersey stood as the record for this service cla s. Braves righty utterly shattered that precedent when he put pen to paper on a six-year, $75MM extension after just having surpa sed one year of service (1.003). That extension came on the heels of an overpowering rookie season in which Strider finished second (to his own teammate, ) in National League Rookie of the Year voting. Hed logged 131 2/3 innings with a 2.67 ERA while fanning a borderline comical 38.3% of his opponents. Bellos performance to date doesnt measure up to that dominance from Strider, and hed likely fall well shy of that highwater mark on an extension of his own. Cincinnati right-hander s even more recent six-year, $53MM extension could be viewed as a more salient comp for Bellos camp, though its not perfectly analogous in its own right. Greenes rookie showing in 2022 featured 125 2/3 innings of 4.44 ERA ball, and when he signed his contract in April of 2023, he carried a career 4.42 ERA in 148 2/3 frames. His path to those results was quite different overpowering triple-digit fastball, plus strikeout rate, average command and a pronounced fly-ball profile but they roughly align with Bellos run-prevention numbers. Greene, however, is generally regarded as having a higher ceiling. Both Strider and Greene signed six-year deals with a club option for a seventh season. A six-year deal would carry Bello through the 2029 season, and a seventh-year club option would give the Sox control over Bellos 2030 campaign. If the two sides were to deviate from that structure, age could be a factor; Greenes deal began in his age-23 campaign and Striders in his age-24 season. The 2024 campaign will be Bellos age-25 season. A six-year deal and club option would keep him under club control through his age-31 year and position him to become a free agent entering his age-32 season. If Bello wants a faster path to free agency (e.g. five years and an option), thatd be understandable but would also surely mean taking a guarantee shy of Greenes $53MM. Even on a six-year deal, hed likely fall a bit shy of that mark. When comparing him to Greene, it also bears mentioning that Greene had a larger safety net as a former No. 2 overall pick whod received a $7.25MM bonus in the draft. Bello signed as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic for a $28K bonus and doesnt have that type of financial security already established. Whatever shape talks take, the mere fact that Boston is actively engaged in contract talks with a core young player represents a change of pace. The team waited until was a year from free agency before shelling out a ma sive 10-year, $313.5MM extension (on top of his existing $17.5MM salary for his final arb year). Extensions for (six years, $120MM) and (five years, $145MM) both similarly came when they were established stars with more than five years of MLB service. Again , the only other pre-arb extension the Sox have given out in the past decade was s four-year, $18.75MM deal. Prior to that, youd have to go way back to in 2011 to find an extension for a player whod yet to reach arbitration. Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy spoke earlier in camp about a need to begin exploring this type of contract earlier in his players careers ( ). Starting earlier, is probably a le son, Kennedy said just a few days ago. Weve not had a ton of succe s in extending our own guys. We have in the past and its been a great recipe for succe s. But I think starting those conversations earlier is a great idea. Julius Randle Jersey