Ronel

Blanco

It’s merely a procedural move to clear a spot on Houston’s 40-man roster. The 31-year-old righty is set to undergo season-ending elbow surgery this week and will likely be sidelined until the second half of the 2026 season.

Blanco had sought a second opinion on his injured elbow last week, and now we know the result of that visit. The 31-year-old will miss the remainder of the 2025 season and likely at least the first half of the 2026 season. By then, the Astros will likely have Spencer Arrighetti, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia and J.P. France all back in their rotation, so Blanco’s future role in Houston is a bit up in the air after this latest development.

Astros’ general manager Dana Brown told reporters on Thursday that Blanco is seeking a second opinion on his injured elbow and the team would have a better feel for his status after that examination. It sounds like he’s going to be shelved for a while. No word yet on the corresponding move or how the Astros plan to fill his spot in the rotation.

That’s never good news. We’ll probably have news later this week on how that evaluation went, but a trip to the injured list seems likely for Blanco. The Astros’ rotation is already without Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, and Hayden Wesneski, so losing Blanco would be a big blow. That would likely mean Brandon Walter, who pitched well on Tuesday, could get a chance to have a longer stay in the Astros rotation with AJ Blubaugh and Colton Gordon battling for the other spot.

Blanco shut out the Reds for eight innings in his last start, but outings like tonight have been the norm for him this year. In fact, he’s given up exactly three runs in five of his nine starts while going 3-4 with a 4.10 ERA. He’ll pitch at home against the Mariners next time out.

Blanco gave up two hits, walked one and struck out 11. It was a dominant performance for the 31-year-old right-hander. While Blanco had a 2.80 ERA last year, his xFIP was 4.09. This year, his ERA is 4.04 and his xFIP is 4.06 after eight starts. Blanco is a solid pitcher with more strikeouts (43) than innings pitched (42 1/3) this year, but it’s unlikely he’ll go on another run to get his ERA down under 3.00. Blanco is lined up to face the Rangers on the road next weekend.

Blanco was solid for five of six innings, but the third inning was anything but. He gave up an RBI single to William Contreras and a two-run homer to Christian Yelich in that frame. Outside of that it was solid for the 31-year-old, but he received just a single run of support. Blanco will pitch again Sunday versus the Reds if there’s no change to the rotation order.

Gusto has looked outstanding this season in his first big-league opportunity, recording a strong 3.00 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 29/6 K/BB ratio across 27 innings in eight appearances. The Astros are going to skip his next start on Tuesday against the Brewers with Lance McCullers Jr. (elbow) rejoining the rotation, but he’ll be available in a bulk relief capacity over the next few days. It’ll be Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Framber Valdez starting the three games against Milwaukee. He figures to take the ball at some point later next week after Houston transitions back to a six-man rotation.

Blanco allowed only three hits, but two of those hits were homers. The right-hander was able to strike out six against two walks while locating 52-of-84 pitches for strikes. Blanco has not worked deeper than five innings in any of his outings this year, but he’s avoided the disastrous start. He walked two while striking out four and seeing his ERA rise to a still-healthy 3.34. Blanco will try to keep the ball in the park in his next start, which would seem likely to come against the Brewers.

The right-hander walked a pair while striking out three batters on the night. The lone tally against him came on a solo homer by Nathan Lukes in the third inning. Blanco got 12 swings and misses on 93 pitches on the evening, six of them on his slider, while posting a solid CSW of 29 percent. He’ll see if he can carry over the momentum from this outstanding outing as he carries a 5.01 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a 20/12 K/BB ratio (23 1/3 innings) into Monday’s showdown against the Tigers.