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Tag: Ronel Blanco

  • Astros Take Rangers Series As Improvements Emerge: Four Thoughts

    Astros Take Rangers Series As Improvements Emerge: Four Thoughts

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    The gloom and despair of the Astros’ 4-11 start seemed compounded by injuries and a very tough schedule. In addition to missing Justin Verlander, Jose Urquidy, Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers, Jr., a pretty good starting rotation for most teams, Chas McCormick suffered a mild hamstring injury and Alex Bregman missed a couple games with an illness.

    Not an ideal way to start a home stand against a division rival and defending world champion. That’s before the Braves, one of the best teams in the National League, comes to town.

    But, the Astros managed to find their swagger at the plate and on the mound both Saturday and Sunday behind outstanding pitching efforts from Ronel Blanco (again!) and Cristian Javier, taking two of three against the Rangers and starting the season 4-3 against Texas keeping them just 2.5 games back in the standings despite the early struggles.

    With everything that has happened, it’s difficult to recognize that there is some surprisingly good news when it comes to this team. It’s not ALL good, but more of it than you might think.

    The offense is already better than you think.

    The Astros, after Sunday’s win, are fourth in home runs, sixth in walks, third in strikeouts, third in batting average, fifth in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging and fourth in OPS. Anyone who thinks this won’t be a very, very good offense is ignoring the fact they already are. Their struggles have mostly been hitting with runners in scoring position, where they were last going into Saturday. In just two games, they climbed to middle of the pack. A lot can happen with stats so early in the season.

    The fact is that, with a couple notable exceptions (see below), this is a fearsome lineup that is going to become even more formidable as the year goes on.

    Without Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Ronel Blanco have been great.

    Blanco has been an absolute revelation. He has the third best ERA in baseball and seems to have found a groove with his newly minted changeup that is absolutely devastating hitters. Javier came into the year with a boatload of expectations that he has met head one. He is eleventh in ERA and, like Blanco, his changeup has been the difference this year.

    On a team that boasts quite a few very good pitchers, having your third guy and someone no one even expected to be the rotation turn out such incredible performances early in the season has been nothing short of a godsend.

    The bullpen has improved.

    There was much consternation over the struggles of the bullpen early in the season, but seemingly everyone has hit their stride from newbie Tyler Scott to Seth Martinez (his rough, meaningless inning on Sunday notwithstanding) to Bryan Abreu to even Josh Hader, who looked human in the first few games. Even Rafael Montero looks capable out of the ‘pen.

    In truth, a lot of the struggle early this year have some reasoning behind them even if the losses continued to mount. This bullpen still has some issues, but it is much better than it began and continues to improve.

    There are still holes in the lineup (and the rotation).

    It remains almost unfathomable that the Astros went into the season with first base exclusively covered by Jose Abreu and Jon Singleton. Abreu is hitting .111 with 14 strikeouts and often looks lost at the plate despite a couple of hits over the weekend. Singleton, the designated power lefty bat off the bench, is faring slightly better hitting .250 with a pair of doubles, but very little actual power slugging just .321. Because Singleton is out of minor league options and Abreu is in year two of a fairly large three-year deal, the Astros are painted into a corner with both.

    In the rotation, Hunter Brown looks lost on the mound. Many were hoping he would make a leap in his second full year as a starter, but he seems to have regressed. Until they are fully healthy, they are going to have to run him out there every fifth day and hope he can figure it out on the fly.

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    Jeff Balke

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  • Five Astros Trying to Change the Narrative Early in the Season

    Five Astros Trying to Change the Narrative Early in the Season

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    As difficult a start as it has been for the Astros in 2024, there are legitimate reasons to believe the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train. In addition to the fact that they have faced multiple playoff contending teams and have yet to see Justin Verlander pitch outside of Sugar Land, it’s early. The Astros are not a team that does April well.

    As was pointed out by StatMuse just a week ago, the entire franchise has a losing record in the month dating back to 1965. Now, by all measures this has been a particularly bad run to open a season, but there have been real bright spots, especially from these five players who are working to change the perception people have of them.

    Jeremy Peña
    .325/.357/.500/.857
    Key Stat: 2 Home Runs

    The discussion of Peña’s changed swing mechanics reached a pretty ridiculous level during Spring Training. After a rookie season with 20 home runs and MVPs in the postseason and World Series, a lot was expected of the Astros shortstop in 2023. While his numbers across the board were roughly the same, his home run and doubles numbers dipped significantly, the product of a launch angle greatly reduced. In 2024, he re-tooled his swing and we are seeing far more line drives early this year. He also has two home runs. His last dinger prior to 2024 was last July.

    Seth Martinez
    Key Stat: 0.900 WHIP

    An ERA of zero through seven innings is great, but allowing just three hits and a walk in that same span is incredible. His WHIP is a ridiculous 0.571. Martinez was stellar throughout Spring Training and it has carried over into the season including his scoreless three-and-two-thirds innings Monday night in a win over the Rangers. He was always someone the Astros believed could have an impact, but he wasn’t able to stick on the major league club. Now, he is leading the bullpen. With key losses in the ‘pen over the winter, Martinez stepping up and becoming a steady reliever could not have come at a better time.

    click to enlarge

    Ronel Blanco is the AL Player of the Week.

    Photo by Jack Gorman

    Jake Meyers
    .250/.318/.550/.868
    Key Stat: .868 OPS

    No one questioned Meyers’ defensive abilities in center field until last year when his surgically repaired shoulder caused fans to wonder if he would even make the roster. It came as some surprise when he was declared the team’s starting center fielder this spring despite good arguments to be made that he was not the best option there even among some of the team’s prospects.

    But Meyers put together a solid spring and already has two homers with a plus-.800 OPS. The reality is that Meyers won’t be a “full time” starter anyway. When Yordan Alvarez plays in left (as happened Monday night), he will often be replaced by Mauricio Dubon or Chas McCormick, who can slide over from left. But he has shown enough already at the plate and has clearly bounced back defensively that he is a legitimate option in the team’s outfield rotation.

    Rafael Montero
    Key Stat: 0.857 WHIP

    Is Montero back? After getting a huge three-year contract prior to last season, there was a point in 2023 when many wondered if Montero should be waived. He was genuinely that bad. Later in the season, however, he righted the ship and began to regain his form. Fortunately, that has continued into this season. He has only given up one run — a solo home run in his first outing against the Yankees — and is currently sporting a 1.93 ERA in four-and-two-thirds innings pitched over five games. He has not allowed a hit since that solo shot against the Yanks. If he is back to 2022 levels of play, he could be a huge difference in the bullpen.

    Ronel Blanco
    Key Stat: 1 No Hitter

    Blanco was named AL Player of the Week after one of the most stunning starts to a season by any pitcher ever and certainly the most unexpected. After no hitting the Blue Jays, he came back with five hitless innings against the Rangers. Those 14 straight no-hit innings were the most for any pitcher since 1961.

    Considering the 30-year-old had only made eight starts in his career and was pressed into duty with the injury to Justin Verlander, it feels like a mammoth undersell to even use the word unexpected. Blanco has now legitimately played his way into a potential starting role, something virtually no one would have thought this spring when most just hoped he would be good enough to fill middle relief.

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    Jeff Balke

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  • Houston’s Ronel Blanco throws no-hitter

    Houston’s Ronel Blanco throws no-hitter

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    Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw the first no-hitter in the major leagues this season, blanking the Toronto Blue Jays 10-0 on Monday night.The right-hander struck out seven and walked two. He walked George Springer to start the game and again with two outs in the ninth. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end it, Blanco smiled broadly before raising his arms above his head just before being mobbed by teammates.Video above: Clarified: The Latino impact on baseballIt was the 17th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in the majors since Philadelphia’s Michael Lorenzen threw one against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 9 of last year.Houston’s previous no-hitter came about a week before that one when Framber Valdez did it in a 2-0 win over Cleveland on Aug. 1.Kyle Tucker and Yainer Diaz each homered twice to provide the offense in this one, as the Astros won their first game of the season after losing four to the Yankees. Houston’s Joe Espada became the first manager in major league history to get his first win in a no-hitter. Blanco threw 105 pitches, averaging 93.6 mph with 31 fastballs and also throwing 36 changeups, 34 sliders and four curveballs. The 30-year-old Dominican sailed through the game and didn’t need too many big plays from his defense, although with one out in the ninth, Cavan Biggio hit a grounder to the right side. First baseman Jose Abreu fielded it diving to his right and then, while still on the ground, threw to Blanco covering first for the out.In the eighth, Alejandro Kirk hit a ball that Blanco deflected, and it rolled away from him. Mauricio Dubón, who had just entered the game for Jose Altuve at second base, charged in and grabbed it before making the throw to first to retire Kirk.Blanco, who had never pitched a complete game as a professional, was making his eighth major league start and had never pitched more than six innings.The Astros tagged Toronto’s Bowden Francis (0-1) for 10 hits and seven runs in his first major league start.Altuve hit a leadoff single before Tucker’s shot with one out in the inning made it 2-0. There were two outs in the first when Diaz connected on his first homer to push the lead to 3-0.Peña’s home run to the seats in left field made it 4-0 with one out in the second.Chas McCormick doubled with one out in the fourth and scored on a two-out single by Jake Meyers that made it 5-0.Peña extended the lead to seven with a two-run single in the sixth.Yordan Alvarez walked to start the seventh before Tucker homered again to make it 9-0. There was one out in the inning when Diaz connected again, sending one into the seats in right field to push the lead to 10-0.

    HOUSTON —

    Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw the first no-hitter in the major leagues this season, blanking the Toronto Blue Jays 10-0 on Monday night.

    The right-hander struck out seven and walked two. He walked George Springer to start the game and again with two outs in the ninth. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end it, Blanco smiled broadly before raising his arms above his head just before being mobbed by teammates.

    Video above: Clarified: The Latino impact on baseball

    It was the 17th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in the majors since Philadelphia’s Michael Lorenzen threw one against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 9 of last year.

    Houston’s previous no-hitter came about a week before that one when Framber Valdez did it in a 2-0 win over Cleveland on Aug. 1.

    Kyle Tucker and Yainer Diaz each homered twice to provide the offense in this one, as the Astros won their first game of the season after losing four to the Yankees. Houston’s Joe Espada became the first manager in major league history to get his first win in a no-hitter.

    Blanco threw 105 pitches, averaging 93.6 mph with 31 fastballs and also throwing 36 changeups, 34 sliders and four curveballs. The 30-year-old Dominican sailed through the game and didn’t need too many big plays from his defense, although with one out in the ninth, Cavan Biggio hit a grounder to the right side. First baseman Jose Abreu fielded it diving to his right and then, while still on the ground, threw to Blanco covering first for the out.

    In the eighth, Alejandro Kirk hit a ball that Blanco deflected, and it rolled away from him. Mauricio Dubón, who had just entered the game for Jose Altuve at second base, charged in and grabbed it before making the throw to first to retire Kirk.

    Blanco, who had never pitched a complete game as a professional, was making his eighth major league start and had never pitched more than six innings.

    The Astros tagged Toronto’s Bowden Francis (0-1) for 10 hits and seven runs in his first major league start.

    Altuve hit a leadoff single before Tucker’s shot with one out in the inning made it 2-0. There were two outs in the first when Diaz connected on his first homer to push the lead to 3-0.

    Peña’s home run to the seats in left field made it 4-0 with one out in the second.

    Chas McCormick doubled with one out in the fourth and scored on a two-out single by Jake Meyers that made it 5-0.

    Peña extended the lead to seven with a two-run single in the sixth.

    Yordan Alvarez walked to start the seventh before Tucker homered again to make it 9-0. There was one out in the inning when Diaz connected again, sending one into the seats in right field to push the lead to 10-0.

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