Ronel De Jesus Blanco (born August 31, 1993) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He signed with the Astros as an international

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2016, and made his MLB debut in 2022. He threw a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

against the Toronto Blue Jays in 2024.

Career

2016–2023

Blanco was a corner infielder and outfielder before he began pitching at the age of 18, and signed with the

as an international

on April 27, 2016, aged 22. He split the 2016 season between the DSL Astros and the

GCL Astros The Florida Complex League Astros are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Houston Astros, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Astros. The team plays it ...

, going a combined 7–1 with a 2.13 ERA and 59 strikeouts over innings. Blanco split the 2017 season between the

Quad Cities River Bandits The Quad Cities River Bandits are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Their home games are played at Modern Woodmen Park (formerly John O'Donnell Stadium) in Davenport, Iowa, on ...

and the

Buies Creek Astros The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and play their home games at Segra Stadium. From 2017 to 201 ...

, going a combined 6–5 with a 3.38 ERA and 79 strikeouts over 88 innings. He split the 2018 season between Buies Creek and the

Corpus Christi Hooks The Corpus Christi Hooks are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and are named for the city's association with fishing. The team is owned b ...

, going a combined 7–1 with a 3.65 ERA and 71 strikeouts over innings. Blanco split the 2019 season between the

Tri-City ValleyCats The Tri-City ValleyCats are a professional baseball team based in Albany, New York. The ValleyCats compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the North Division in the Atlantic Conference. The team was established in 2002, along with the ...

, Corpus Christi, and the

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home ...

, going a combined 5–2 with a 4.96 ERA and 57 strikeouts over 49 innings. Blanco did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Blanco spent the 2021 season with the

Sugar Land Skeeters The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the G ...

. On April 7,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, the Astros selected Blanco's contract and placed him on the major league roster. On April 9, he made his major league debut in the eighth inning against the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

. On March 28,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, it was announced that Blanco had made the Astros'

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster for a second consecutive season. Blanco debuted as a starting pitcher in the major leagues on June 1, 2023, earning the win in a 5–2 final over the

Angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

after tossing innings with seven hits, three walks, two earned runs allowed and five strikeouts.

2024

Blanco threw the first

of the 2024 MLB season on April 1,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

. The eighth start of his career, it was the seventeenth no-hitter in franchise history, and the tenth thrown by a Dominican pitcher. In his next start on April 7, Blanco tossed another no-hit innings until a single hit by Adolis García of the Texas Rangers ended consecutive no-hit innings. Blanco set an expansion-era record (since 1961) of 44 outs recorded to begin a season before allowing a hit. He was named the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

(AL) Player of the Week for the first time for the week ended April 7,

. Opposing batters went 1-for-46 in the same week. On May 14, during a game against the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

, Blanco was ejected due to a sticky substance found on his glove. The following day, he was suspended 10 games as a result of the ejection. Blanco exited after seven hitless innings versus the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

on June 16 before

Ryan Pressly Thomas Ryan Pressly (born December 15, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros. He has also played for Team ...

allowed a single by Wenceel Pérez with two outs in the eighth. In August 2024, Blanco surpassed his previous career high as a professional in innings pitched (), split between Triple-A and MLB in 2023. He remained unbeaten in his final nine starts of the season and posted a 0.75 ERA in four September starts. For the 2024 season, Blanco posted a record of 2.80 ERA, 13–6 win–loss record, and 166 strikeouts in 167 innings over 30 games pitched with 29 pitching starts and 14 quality starts. He finished the 2024 season in 4th place of the list of ERA leaders, which he finished the regular season in the top 5. Blanco led the major leagues in

batting average against In baseball statistics, batting average against (denoted by BAA or AVG), also known as opponents' batting average (denoted by OBA), is a statistic that measures a pitcher's ability to prevent hits during official at bats. It can alternatively be ...

(BAA, at .190) and

hits per nine innings In baseball statistics, hits per nine innings (denoted by H/9) is the average number of hits allowed by a pitcher in a nine inning period; calculated as: (hits allowed x 9) / innings pitched. This is a measure of a pitcher's success based on the ...

pitched (H/9, at 6.131), was third in the AL win–loss percentage (.684), and sixth in

walks plus hits per inning pitched In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) is a Sabermetrics, sabermetric measurement of the number of Baserunning#Becoming a runner, baserunners a pitcher has allowed per Innings pitched, inning pitched. WHIP is calculate ...

(WHIP, at 1.088). He also surrendered the fourth-most walks in the league (68) and the highest base-on-balls percentage in the major leagues (10.1%). Blanco was named the Astros' Pitcher of the Year by the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

chapter of the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known fo ...

(BBWAA). Blanco made his major league postseason debut on October 1, 2024, in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series (WCS). Tossing two scoreless innings in relief, he maintained the Astros' deficit at 3–1 versus Detroit, who held on to win and eventually sweep the best-of-3 series. Blanco surrendered one hit, three walks, and struck out four.

2025

On May 11,

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, Blanco established a career-high 11 strikeouts over eight innings to lead a 6–0, two-hit shutout of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. On May 28, The Astros announced that Blanco would undergo

ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, ...

, ending his 2025 campaign.

Awards

Personal life

Blanco is married to wife Yanissa. Their second child was born in March 2024.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Ronel 1993 births Living people Baseball players from Santiago de los Caballeros Buies Creek Astros players Corpus Christi Hooks players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Summer League Astros players Estrellas Orientales players Gulf Coast Astros players Houston Astros players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Quad Cities River Bandits players Round Rock Express players Sugar Land Skeeters players Sugar Land Space Cowboys players Tri-City ValleyCats players