Starting pitching depth has never been more valuable than it is right now, and the Houston Astros are a prime example of why. Ultimately, you can never have enough starting pitching depth with the threat of injury being as serious as it is. Ronel Blanco became just the latest Astros pitcher to suffer an injury.
What Blanco is dealing with beyond elbow soreness is unclear, but anytime a pitcher is dealing with elbow soreness, that isn't exactly a good sign. Since he's headed back to Houston to be seen by team doctors, there's a good chance that, at the very least, Blanco will end up on the IL.
If/when that ultimately happens, Blanco will join a ridiculous list of starting pitchers who are already sidelined.
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Ronel Blanco is latest Astros starting pitcher to get bitten by the injury bug
Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, and Hayden Wesneski are all starting pitchers on the IL. That's a full five-man rotation, and honestly, it would be a solid one if they were healthy. Blanco is at high risk of joining them.
What's most concerning about the mounting list of injuries is the kind of injuries the pitchers have sustained. Arrighetti suffered a fractured thumb in a freak accident, but the other four pitchers are dealing with major arm injuries, and three of those four are out after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Given that, it's hard not to worry about Blanco having to undergo that same procedure, which would knock him out for the remainder of this season and very possibly all of next season as well.
The Astros do have their two best starters, Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez, healthy and producing, but depth behind them is lacking now that they're dealing with a slew of injuries. Blanco was, by all intents and purposes, their No. 3 starter right now. This injury will likely change that.
Blanco hasn't been quite as good as he was in his breakout 2024 campaign, but he has a 4.10 ERA in nine starts and 48.1 innings of work this season. He has allowed three runs or fewer in all but one of his outing, and threw eight scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts just 10 days ago in a win against the Cincinnati Reds.
Blanco missing time, especially given the state of Houston's rotation, would be a frustrating development. Yes, they do have Brown and Valdez, but the other healthy members of their rotation are rookie Ryan Gusto and Lance McCullers Jr., who recently returned from missing multiple years on the sidelines with injury woes of his own and hasn't gone beyond four innings in an outing.
It's really hard to get through a full 162-game season with only two trustworthy starters, but if Blanco is IL-bound, the Astros will have to find a way to push through. This might mean Dana Brown getting aggressive and making a move just to give them some sort of depth. For now, all Astros fans can do is hope Blanco avoids the worst.