I like to think I pay pretty close attention to Major League Baseball, but I’d be lying if I’d told you, as of yesterday morning, that I had any meaningful idea who Ronel Blanco is. I might have been able to come up with the Houston Astros, but I certainly couldn’t have told you anything more than that.
And somehow that guy, at 30 years old and making just his 8th big league start, just threw the season’s first no-hitter:
Blanco was 22 years old and working at a carwash in the Dominican Republic when he got a chance to sign as a pitcher with the Astros. He then spent six years climbing up through their farm system before making his big league debut in 7 relief appearances in 2022. He was an up-down swing guy last year (17 appearances), and then the Astros’ rash of starting pitching injuries forced this opportunity. Boy did he make the most of it.
And get this story:
The guy made the team on the last day of Spring Training, which was also the same day his second kid was born. And then his first start of the regular season, he throws a no-hitter. What an unbelievable week.