ROCKLAND, Mass. (August 28, 2025) 一 Brian Van Belle’s long journey to The Show is complete.
The former North Shore Navigators pitcher became the 29th all-time Futures League alum and the fifth this season to make his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut, pitching 2.1 innings of one-run ball to close out a 7-2 Sunday win for the Tampa Bay Rays over the St. Louis Cardinals. He recorded his first two career strikeouts in the ninth inning.
Van Belle is the first Futures League product to reach the majors as an undrafted free agent, having climbed the ranks since signing with the Boston Red Sox in 2020. He also became the first alum to make his MLB debut for the Rays, who recalled him from the Triple-A Durham Bulls on Friday.
Van Belle pitched in the Futures League in 2017 while attending Broward College, recording 13 strikeouts in 14.2 innings for North Shore. The summer actually marked the right-hander’s first collegiate-level action, as he was injured for his first two seasons at Broward before taking the mound for the first time in 2018.
After Broward, he continued his career at the University of Miami, going 11-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 20 starts across the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Before the COVID-19 pandemic cut his senior season short in 2020, Van Belle pitched to a 2-0 record, 0.68 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 26.1 innings and was named a Collegiate Baseball All-American.
The Pembroke Pines, Fla., native had spent the entirety of his professional career with the Red Sox before being traded twice within the last two months. Van Belle was promoted to Boston’s 26-man roster on June 9, but was designated for assignment without appearing in a game. He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on June 14 and then to the Rays on July 30.
Though 94 of his 125 minor league appearances have come as a starter, Van Belle opened the Red Sox organization’s eyes later last season upon moving to the bullpen for Triple-A Worcester. He finished 2024 with an 8-2 record, 4.42 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 93.2 innings (30 appearances, nine starts) and, as a result, received an invite to MLB Spring Training for the first time in his career.
However, various injuries throughout the Red Sox organization thrust Van Belle back into a primary starter’s role in Worcester in 2025, and he proceeded to go 5-1 with a 2.29 ERA in 12 games (eight starts) before being moved earlier this summer. Counting his work within all three organizations this season, he boasts an International League-leading 3.17 ERA and limited opponents to a .245 average across 105 innings.
Van Belle joins Chicago Cubs infielder Matt Shaw (Worcester ‘20-’21) and three fellow pitchers 一 the St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Svanson (Brockton ‘19), New York Yankees’ Cam Schlittler (Nashua ‘19) and Arizona Diamondbacks’ Brandyn Garcia (Westfield ‘20) 一 among Futures League alumni to officially complete the climb to the top of the baseball ladder in 2025.
The other Navigator among the league’s MLB alumni is two-time Top Pro Prospect Sal Frelick (North Shore ‘18,’20), the Boston College grad who is currently starring for the Milwaukee Brewers.
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