HOUSTON – Ronel Blanco woke up anonymous Monday, another big right-hander blending into the Houston Astros’ heralded pitching pipeline. He worked at a car wash in the Dominican Republic before receiving a $5,000 signing bonus from an organization that cornered the market on cheap improbabilities.
Blanco didn’t pitch until he was 18 years old. Houston signed him at 22, an old-timer among the teenagers making headlines in international signing classes. If general manager Dana Brown hadn’t persuaded his pitching coaches to try Blanco as a starter, he might still be slotted into a minor league bullpen. He wowed in Dominican winter ball and commuted to Triple-A Sugar Land, all while being stuck in the big leagues by the same stories he tried to write.
“He and the whole group met expectations but exceeded expectations beyond what we could have imagined,” Oz Ocampo said Monday night.
Ocampo oversaw the Astros’ international scouting department during its peak. Framber Valdez signed for $10,000 under Ocampo. Cristian Javier too. Both have become truly great players. Blanco received half of their bonus, but can now etch his name alongside them in Astros history.
In his eighth major league start few expected him to participate in spring training, Blanco pitched the 17th no-hitter in Astros history. He tamed the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-0 victory at Minute Maid Park Monday night, introducing himself to an entire sport while opening a new chapter in Houston’s profitable excellence.
Valdez, Javier and Blanco have started the franchise’s last four no-hit games. Javier started two, including the first six innings in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series. Bryan Abreu, who signed for $40,000 during Ocampo’s tenure, took over for Javier in the seventh.
“Pretty unbelievable,” said Ocampo, who began receiving text messages from the other scouts involved in these signings while Blanco was bullying a respectable Blue Jays roster. He watched the latest outs on MLB Network.
“I definitely didn’t expect this,” said Ocampo, now assistant general manager of the Miami Marlins. “He exceeded, I think, all of our expectations because of his work ethic, his level of competition, his focus and his consistency every year.”
Blanco had never pitched more than six innings in a championship game and had never crossed the 100 pitch threshold. Pitching coach Josh Miller said the team plans to keep him around 90 pitches Monday. Blanco left the eighth with 91. He threw 14 more in the ninth to secure one of the most unexpected plays in pitching history in this franchise’s existence.
“It was special for me personally,” said manager Joe Espada, who became the first captain in major league history to win his first career no-hitter. “To do it this way, for a guy who played in the minor leagues and seeing how hard he worked to play against a really good team, it takes everything to another level of emotion.”
Blanco had little chance of making this team after spring training. Without injuries to Justin Verlander and José Urquidy, Blanco could be in the minor leagues or a member of Houston’s bullpen. He didn’t officially claim a rotation spot until the start of his final show in the spring — the same day he and his wife, Yanissa, welcomed a baby girl. Blanco still showed up at the stadium this afternoon to make his departure.
“I see this as a life-changing experience,” Blanco said through a translator. “I dedicate this to my family and my daughter.”
Uncertainty surrounded even when Blanco would throw. He and his compatriot JP France were expecting babies at the same time. The team assigned France to start Sunday against the New York Yankees and Blanco for Monday, but was prepared to reverse the assignments if France’s wife, Jessica, went into labor.
France completed its departure on Sunday without problem. Houston’s 4-3 loss dropped the club to 0-4, its worst start since 2011. Abreu and closer Josh Hader also appeared in the game, making them unavailable for the series opener. Monday against Toronto. Few remaining relievers inspire much confidence, forcing Blanco to step up.
Blanco provided more than enough. Leadoff hitter George Springer drew two walks against him, including one to start the game. No other Blue Jay reached base. After needing 19 shots to complete the first, Blanco needed fewer than 15 to complete the next eight frames. Toronto took 59 swings against him. Twenty of them were puffs.
Blanco controlled the Blue Jays with a nasty changeup that he threw at will. His seven strikeouts ended with that. Half of the 20 puffs came against him. The pitch made up just nine percent of his major league arsenal last season, but he spent spring training fine-tuning it in hopes of making his repertoire more unpredictable.
Assistant pitching coach Bill Murphy traveled to the Dominican Republic, where he tinkered with Blanco’s grip on the field.
“It’s become more consistent,” Miller said. “Still a little inconsistent, but wicked when it’s true.
Added receiver Yainer Diaz: “Whenever I called him in spring training, he always commanded it well. I knew it was something he worked on a lot in the offseason. When we got to the bullpen, I saw his slider, usually he pulls it a little bit when he’s warming up, but I saw he was throwing it and commanding it really well, so that made me happy. gave the confidence to be able to call the slider and change and mix the two well.
Blanco threw 36 changeups, 31 four-seam fastballs and spun 34 sliders. Concern over his long-term viability as a starter has always centered around the lack of a third pitch, perhaps preventing him from navigating a lineup more than once. Monday may have allayed most of those concerns.
Toronto hit four balls over 90 mph against Blanco. Only three batted balls reached the outfield. None of the others traveled more than 192 feet. No outstanding defensive plays were required, but two ground balls late in the inning still posed a threat.
To start the eighth, catcher Alejandro Kirk crushed a 100.7 mph grounder up the middle. No Blue Jays hitter hit a ball harder all night. Blanco instinctively raised his hand to deflect the ball. He rolled into no man’s land.
Second baseman Mauricio Dubón rushed to his left, scooped it up on the carom and completed the out of a laboring catcher who covers just 23.7 feet per second when he sprints. Afterward, first baseman José Abreu acknowledged it was fortunate that Kirk hit the ball and not a faster runner.
Two easier takedowns left Blanco three away from history. He sprinted for the ninth inning with a sparse crowd building to its crescendo. The adrenaline was such that he bypassed the referees’ control before being called back.
“When he was warming up (in the ninth), he hit both fastballs and I was like, ‘Oh man, he’s nervous,'” catcher Yainer Diaz said through a translator.
Blanco admitted it. With one out, Cavan Biggio belted a sharp grounder that forced Abreu to the backfield. He tossed it harmlessly to Blanco, who covered the bag to take one out of history.
Blanco walked Springer again, prompting Houston to move left-hander Parker Mushinski into his bullpen as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded. Blanco’s pitch count exploded and the team just wanted him to face one more batter. Guerrero made a two-strike changeup to second base, ensuring he would be last.
(Top photo by Ronel Blanco: Logan Riely/Getty Images)