Brayan Bello named The Athletic’s midseason AL ‘Cy Yuk’ winner

The Boston Red Sox have four stars from the 2026 squad heading into the break (as of Saturday afternoon) as the team rides a seven-game winning streak and attempts to clinch a third straight series this weekend.

Things were going better for the club than in the first two months. Their pitching continues to dominate, but their lineup has been consistently hitting from top to bottom. This has – unsurprisingly – resulted in 12 wins in their last 14 games, putting them 1.5 games away from last place in the MLS.

While many players have greatly improved their on-field performances recently, one pitcher’s dismal statistics earned them an unfavorable accolade from The athlete.

The outlet’s Jason Stark revealed the midseason award winners ahead of the MLB All-Star break. Names like Yordan Alvarez and Cam Schlittler topped Stark’s AL MVP and AL Cy Young awards during the first half, but Brian Bellew found himself next to the AL “Cy Yuk” winners’ bracket.

Bellew, who was demoted to Triple-A just over a month ago, has put up some of the worst numbers a pitcher can do in his eight starts for Boston.

In those starts (not counting his four major relief outings), he posted an impressive 10.35 ERA, allowing 41 earned runs over 35.2 innings. Hitters slashed .365/.435/.623 and hit 10 home runs against him.

Bellew’s walks per nine were almost identical to his strikeouts per nine: 5.3 BB/9 and 5.6 K/9. He also had a 2.21 WHIP.

“How can he not win this thing?” Stark wrote of Bellow’s “Cy Yuk achievement.” “Among pitchers who have been around as long as he has (61 innings), Bellew ranks dead last in bWAR, ERA, expected ERA, WHIP, opponent batting average, lowest soft contact rate and dozens of other categories that you don’t need to hear about at this point.

“You need to know that I’m never looking to hang a Psy Yuk medal around anyone’s neck. But sometimes these guys make me do it. So I’m sorry, Brian. I was that guy.”

Starc pointed to Bellew’s shockingly poor statistics in the first half in his assessment. Including his eight starts and four appearances, his ERA in the first frame is 16.88.

Despite Bellew’s horrific starting stats, he was more than serviceable out of the bullpen, which is why the Red Sox kept him in the major leagues for so long. He pitched to a 0.71 ERA and struck out 22 batters for just three runs in 25.1 relief innings. This is good for 7.8 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9.

Bellew posted a sub-whip out of the pen (.91) with hitters hitting .215 as well.

Boston decided to send him to Triple-A despite his four impressive appearances, and Triple-A is where he stays. The Red Sox could have opted to call him up to start Saturday in place of injured goalie Suarez, but they reportedly opted to call up Eduardo Rivera instead, according to insiders. Hector Gomez.

Bellew is not the first Red Sox player to be named a first-inning winner with “Cy Yuk.” Stark named Walker Buehler to the AL in 2025 for his similarly poor performance.

Callie Brown

Sports product

Callie Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox.