Ronel Blanco wasn't destined to make his Major League debut last season. The Houston Astros reliever started 2022 as a non-roster invite, and after impressing the front office and manager Dusty Baker during spring training, his contract was selected.
Blanco made the Opening Day roster as one of the extra two players carried in April, but when rosters were crunched on May 2, the righty was optioned for the first time in his career. He stuck around on the taxi squad in the middle of the month, but he was never recalled by Houston.
In those seven appearances, Blanco pitched 6.1 innings, yielding five runs on eight hits and four walks. He struck out seven batters, while not allowing a run in three appearances.
Sent to Triple-A Sugar Land, Blanco was healthy the entire 2022 season, making 44 appearances out of the bullpen to the tune of a 3.63 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP in 44.2 innings pitched.
Blanco's output was slightly worse than his 2021 campaign in Sugar Land, but his strikeout numbers continued to impress, logging an 11.69 K/9 — .29 higher than in 2021.
The righty showed consistency in his second full season at Triple-A. But as he didn't hear his name called for October workouts or for the postseason taxi squad, Blanco returned to Estrellas de Oriente of the Dominican Winter League — where he played during the last three offseasons (with Jeremy Peña in the latter two).
As of Wednesday, Blanco appeared in 14 games for the Estrellas, posting a 0.00 ERA and a 0.457 WHIP through 15.1 innings pitched. The closer collected 18 strikeouts to five walks in the same sample.
The previous LIDOM season, Blanco showed similar dominance without allowing an earned run in 18 relief innings. The righty posted a 1.000 WHIP, striking out 21 batters to his eight walks.
Last winter, Bryan Abreu was the talk of the town, showing improvements in LIDOM. And even though Houston's bullpen looks to be set heading into the 2023 season, Blanco is poised for another spring to climb back into the Major Leagues as the first arm out of Sugar Land in response to injury.
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