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Houston Astros 2024 Season Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
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Etexhorn13
Etexhorn13

Pretty perfect game to take a three year old to. Was over before he got too bored and got to see a couple homers. Thanks @UTPhil2006 for the suggestion about the first game certificate, had plenty of

Guadaloopy
Guadaloopy
Planet Houston
Planet Houston

I’m just glad I survived another season of being the official thread starter. Thank you all for your continued support in this emotional time.   In more ways than one with tonight’s result:

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wildcat09

wildcat09 29354

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Not for me. I have not seen a single pitch yet. We t on vacation with my kids Saturday morning. Game blacked out Thursday and on apple on Friday. 
I shall return Thursday morning. So, I missed the 1st week. My fault guys. 

Did you watch tonight?

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runthebone

runthebone 7981

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Can someone post this article ?

 

 

Quote

Astros reliever Ronel Blanco’s unlikely journey: From washing cars to pitching in the major leagues

 

When Roman Ocumarez read that Ronel Blanco made the Astros’ Opening Day bullpen, he cried.

The 28-year-old Blanco realizing his major-league dream earlier this month led Ocumarez, formerly a high-ranking international scout for the Astros and now the Marlins’ international scouting director, to reminisce about the pitcher’s unlikely journey. The Dominican right-hander was already 22 when the Astros signed him April 27, 2016, for a $5,000 bonus. Blanco said he had tried out previously for the Yankees, Mets, Pirates and Rays to no avail. When he wasn’t training, he washed cars part time in his hometown of Santiago to help support himself and his mother, Maria.

“You start thinking like, ‘This guy used to work at a freaking car wash,’” Ocumarez said. “He was 22. He had to climb the ladder, basically go to every league, earn every spot.”

Even once he did get his chance to pitch professionally, Blanco wasn’t viewed as much of a prospect. Like many of the Astros’ older Dominican and Venezuelan signees from 2014 to 2017 under then-international director Oz Ocampo, he was late to become a pitcher because he was a position player first. He said he played outfield, third base and first base before he started pitching at age 18.

The Astros found Blanco at age 22 through then-scout Francis Mojica, who was based in Santiago, the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic, and covered the northern part of the country for the team. Mojica saw Blanco throw up to 94 mph while scouting a program headlined by a much younger, highly touted player named Julio Rodríguez, who had the same trainer as Blanco. Rodríguez, now the celebrated rookie outfielder for the Mariners, signed with Seattle at age 16 on July 2, 2017, for $1.75 million.

“That was one of the reasons why a lot of scouts saw me because a lot of people went to see him,” Blanco said through an interpreter. “Otherwise, not a lot of scouts would’ve been going there.”

Mojica passed his report on Blanco along to Ocumarez, and the Astros subsequently invited Blanco south to their complex in the capital city of Santo Domingo for a tryout. Ocumarez recalls seeing him hit 92-95 mph with his fastball, flash a breaking ball and throw strikes. At that time, the Astros took a lot of fliers on low-bonus, so-called older pitchers to fill out their second Dominican Summer League team. Six years later, Blanco has joined the likes of Framber Valdez ($10,000 at age 21), Luis Garcia ($20,000 at age 20), Cristian Javier ($10,000 at almost 18) and Enoli Paredes ($10,000 at age 19) among the success stories.

“When I saw this guy, I basically asked him, ‘Ronel, why aren’t you signed? Why are you still available?’” Ocumarez said. “He basically told me part of what happens right now in the scouting system. He said, ‘Ocu, when you turn 18, 19, for some of the teams, you’re old. That’s why I’m still available.’

“In the morning, he practiced baseball. And then in the afternoon, he freaking washed cars. He was basically almost out of baseball.”

Blanco said he would have kept training had the Astros not signed him and that he had five more tryouts on tap. Given his age, of course, there is no guarantee any of them would have culminated in an opportunity. If baseball hadn’t panned out, he said he probably would’ve gone to school, perhaps to follow his interest in architecture. He said he enjoyed working from a young age, and his job washing cars came about because when he was younger he assisted somebody who washed cars for a living.

“I still wash my own car,” said a smiling Blanco, who drives a Toyota 4Runner.

On Saturday afternoon, Blanco sat by his locker in the visitors’ clubhouse at Angel Stadium, where he was surrounded by stars. As he shared details with a reporter of his remarkable path to the majors, Astros manager Dusty Baker walked by and handed him a copy of his lineup card from Friday night’s game to commemorate his debut, which he made late in the team’s 13-6 win against the Angels. Blanco pitched the final 1 1/3 innings of the game, allowing a run on consecutive two-out hits in the ninth after he got Shohei Ohtani to fly out to lead off the inning.

Blanco pairs a 94-96 mph fastball with an 87-88 mph slider. He will also mix in a mid- to upper 80s changeup and a low 80s curveball. He is an imposing figure, all of the 6-foot-4 and 243 pounds at which he’s listed in the Astros media guide. He’s known for having a resilient arm, and he’s grown into better command over the years. Beginning with the Dominican Summer League in 2016, he saw every level of the minors on his way to the majors.

“I remember him coming over for extended spring training, I think it was 2016, maybe 2017, with Yohan Ramirez, who has pitched in the big leagues a little bit with Seattle the last two years,” said Astros pitching coach Josh Miller, a coach in Houston’s minor-league system from 2013 to 18. “They came over as older signed guys who maybe were a little raw still, had good stuff, had good bodies, good projectability. But (they) grew into some stuff. Ronel Blanco, we knew he had the ability to be a major-league pitcher for a couple years now. But before that he was more of a middling prospect. He’s turned himself into a specimen physically and has proved resilient and his stuff’s gotten better along the way.”

Benefitting from the expansion of rosters from 26 to 28 through May 1 as a result of the lockout-shortened spring training, Blanco pitched his way onto the Astros in the abbreviated big-league camp. He arrived in Florida ready to go after a standout winter for Estrellas in the Dominican Republic, where he didn’t allow an earned run in 18 innings. That came on the heels of a strong 2021 as the closer for Triple-A Sugar Land (3.40 ERA in 45 innings with strikeout and walk percentages of 31.7 and 8.9). The Rule 5 Draft is typically held in early December but wasn’t because of the lockout. Had it been held after the end of the lockout, Blanco’s winter ball performance might have gotten him selected by another team.

Now that he’s on their 40-man roster, the Astros will have the option to shuttle Blanco between the majors and Triple A, as needed, for as many as three seasons before they have to risk losing him again. And who knows? Maybe he will follow in the footsteps of some of their other older international signees by continuing to defy the odds and entrench himself on their major-league roster. As he tells it, the unlikeliness of getting signed at 22 and making this journey helped fuel his ascent.

“I thought about it every day,” Blanco said. “I worked basically just thinking about that, about the opportunity. I knew that this might’ve been the only opportunity I would get.”

 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9432

Posted
Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Mo Horn said:

Mlb ticker says that since 1962 the Stros have the most no-hitters at 17

I want to know how close #2 is.

 

We’re now up to T-4 all-time… the other 6 teams ahead or tied with us (Dodgers, Red Sox, White Sox, Giants, Reds, Cubs)  had between a 61 to 93 year head start (we just started our 63rd season).

Edited by UTexasFight
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Rip76

Rip76 4925

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, tx 3 putt said:

Diaz joined a very small club - caught a no hitter and hit multiple home runs in the game

Listening to 790 right now, Diaz is the first catcher since 1901 to catch a no hitter and hit multiple homeruns.

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Victor Lazlo

Victor Lazlo 1776

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Diaz joined a very small club - caught a no hitter and hit multiple home runs in the game

Yeah, that’s got to be a very, very, small club.

 

Edit: ^^^^^^    Rip just defined exactly how exclusive that club is. Crazy.

Edited by Victor Lazlo
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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76942

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Diaz joined a very small club - caught a no hitter and hit multiple home runs in the game


HoF will be requesting a bat or something from tonight’s game from Diaz. Something from espada too

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9432

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:


 

I’m a fan of the entire astros broadcasting crew. unreal that ford and sparky have called 7 no hitters 

Need that scorebook.

 

actually I think I found it once but balked at the price. 

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UTHornFan014

UTHornFan014 710

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, thetruth said:

I was told only Maldy could call a no hitter and that is why he was so vital to the franchise. How did Diaz pull this off?

Diaz wouldn't have been able to do this without Maldy's guidance last season. So, you could make the argument that all credit should go to Maldy

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54221

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Rip76 said:

Listening to 790 right now, Diaz is the first catcher since 1901 to catch a no hitter and hit multiple homeruns.

Yes, I believe that was Iron Nuts Murphy of the Brooklyn Superbas who did it in 1901.

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76942

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Not surprising:

Earliest calendar date of a no-hitter in MLB history

First career managerial win for manager Joe Espada. Espada is the first manager in MLB history to get his first managerial win via a no-hitter.

 


he gave the line up card to blanco

Edited by tx 3 putt
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TonyTexas

TonyTexas 10511

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

I want to know how close #2 is.

 

We’re now up to T-4 all-time… the other 6 teams ahead or tied with us (Dodgers, Red Sox, White Sox, Giants, Reds, Cubs)  had between a 61 to 93 year head start (we just started our 63rd season).

 

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