Ronel BlancoHOU · SP

2026 review

Ronel Blanco struggled to miss bats and struggled more to find the plate this year: a 6.68 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 33.2 IP with a 20.3 K% and an 11.2 BB% over 143 BF for HOU across 8 games. He was placed on the 15-day IL Mar 25 for right elbow surgery recovery, transferred to the 60-day IL Apr 10, took rehab assignments in Jun and Jul, and was activated Jul 20 before being optioned Aug 16, recalled Sep 1, and optioned again Sep 27, missing 117 regular-season days in that one stint. Undrafted, taken in just 5 of 674 drafts, he finished 1061st of 1472 in the TDK LABS 5x5 value rank and 171st of 236 SP. His 6.68 ERA ran 1.79 above his 4.89 xERA over 143 BF, and he posted a 4.35 ERA in 10.1 IP in Sep against an 8.10 ERA in 10.0 IP in Jul. The TDK LABS card had him shifting toward relief after rotation struggles by mid-Aug, and by late Sep it had him pitching in a narrow relief role with shaky command and a weak strikeout rate.