The Houston Astros are in trouble. Ronel Blanco suffered an injury to his right elbow, ending his season prematurely and raising the question of not only when he'll return, but who will replace him in the Astros' rotation. To put it simply, this Astros rotation is barely recognizable.
Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez are still healthy *knock on wood*, but beyond them, the Astros are in a pickle. If this team wants to continue its impressive postseason streak, they're going to need to address this rotation at some point.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.
Projected Astros rotation without Ronel Blanco leaves a lot to be desired
Astros Rotation | Pitcher |
|---|---|
1 | Hunter Brown |
2 | Lance McCullers Jr. |
3 | Ryan Gusto |
4 | Framber Valdez |
5 | Colton Gordon |
Lance McCullers Jr. was once a stout mid-rotation arm, but he just recently returned from years on the sidelines with injury woes of his own, and he has a 6.57 ERA this season while not completing five innings in any of his four starts. Rookies Ryan Gusto and Colton Gordon are currently rounding out this unrecognizable staff.
Gusto has pitched somewhat decently, but he's failed to complete five innings in four of his six starts. Gordon has an ERA well above 5.00 and a WHIP a shade below 1.500 in his three starts. Depth options beyond those rookies include AJ Blubough and Brandon Walter, both of whom are on the 40-man roster.
Again, this rotation is in trouble. Fortunately, the Astros might be getting reinforcements sometime within the next couple of months.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Astros have glimmer of hope down the line, but must still look externally to fill rotation void
Blanco joins Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, and Hayden Wesneski in a shockingly long list of starters currently on the IL. As bleak as that might sound, every starter on this list outside of Wesneski and now Blanco is expected to return sometime this season, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic ($).
"There is hope Arrighetti can return in July after he fractured his right thumb in mid-April. Team officials are somewhat optimistic that Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia or J.P. France could supply depth after the All-Star break, but all three are recovering from substantial surgeries," Rome wrote.
While encouraging that several impactful starters might be able to come back to help down the stretch, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, all of these starters are coming off major injuries; Who knows how many innings they can realistically give the Astros? Second, who's to say that these pitchers won't deal with any sort of setbacks in their recovery efforts? Obviously, nobody wants that, but these major injuries aren't easy to come back from.
The depth options should not be factored into the team's plans. If they return, that's an added bonus the Astros can take advantage of. That can't be relied on, though. The Astros must look externally to address their rotation, and they ought to do so sooner rather than later if at all possible.