This Monday the first great feat of the 2024 Major League season was recorded, which had the Dominican Ronel Blanco as the protagonist by completing a game without hits or a run against the Toronto Blue Jays, to guide the first victory of his team, the Houston Astros in this campaign.
However, before this unforgettable opening, only a few people knew the name of this 30-year-old pitcher who, due to some coincidences in life or simply being at the right time, has been able to fulfill his dream of putting his name on the MLB history.
Ronel Blanco is a 30-year-old pitcher, born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, who managed to make his debut in the Majors in 2022, when he was 28 years old, something rare in modern baseball.
This was only his eighth start in the MLB and it occurred due to the injuries of Justin Verlander and the Mexican José Urquidy, which opened two spots in the rotation. In fact, just a week ago, the same day his daughter was born, was when Puerto Rican manager Joe Espada informed the right-hander that he would be his fifth starter.
Until a few weeks ago, Blanco had not had the opportunity to be a full-time starter in any category. And the fact is that only 34 of his 202 appearances in the minor leagues were starts.
His first major league appearances were as a reliever when he pitched eight games in 2022. His first start at baseball’s highest level occurred on June 1, 2023.
From washing cars to throwing a no-hitter, no-run game
But none of this dream was easy. And the Dominican had an unconventional path in which, at 18 years old, even without being able to sign with any organization, he spent his time practicing in stadiums in the morning and working at a car wash in the afternoons to support himself and his mother.
Credit to the Astros for trusting the Dominican
If credit is to be given to what happened this Monday, in addition to the pitcher himself, it is to the Houston Astros organization, which decided to give a pitcher the opportunity to sign when he was 22 years old, something he did for only $5,000 dollars.
But another of the big moves the team made came from general manager Dana Brown, who in spring training this year had the instinct to make him a starter, something he quickly got right since he made two starts in which He dominated the Los Angeles Angels in 5.1 innings and later the Blue Jays, to whom he gave the no hit-no run.
The scout was going for Julio Rodríguez and found Ronel Blanco
Having made the transition from player to pitcher when he was 18, Ronel Blanco began participating in tryouts throughout the Dominican Republic, until one day, Astros scout Francis Mojica attended with the intention of seeing a certain Julio Rodríguez , who had the same coach as the pitcher.
J-Rod ended up signing with the Seattle Mariners and, as we all know, ended up winning the Rookie of the Year award in the American League in 2022, the same year in which Blanco debuted in MLB.
Francis Mojica, seeing the qualities of the then 22-year-old pitcher, decided to invite him to the Houston academy and then ended up signing a contract on April 27, 2016 for $5,000 dollars, the rest, as they say, is history.
With information from MLB.com.
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