HOUSTON -- The Astros opted to carry an extra pitcher for the American League Championship Series against the Rangers, adding right-hander Ronel Blanco to the roster and dropping outfielder Jake Meyers. Thus, Houston will carry 13 pitchers and 13 position players in the best-of-seven series, which begins on Sunday night with Game 1 at Minute Maid Park.
Blanco provides the Astros with some additional length and resilience in the bullpen, considering his ability to bounce back quickly from his outings. He appeared in 17 games, including seven starts, for Houston this year, posting a 4.50 ERA. The 30-year-old began the season on the Opening Day roster, but he spent most of the year at Triple-A Sugar Land, going 7-4 with a 3.68 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP in 15 games (13 starts).
Blanco, who was on the Astros’ postseason taxi squad, was named the Pacific Coast League’s Pitcher of the Month for September after going 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA, giving up two runs in 22 innings with 27 strikeouts.
“Blanco has history out of the ‘pen, and we thought we needed that length,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said. “He can bounce back, which is good. He can pitch on a Monday two innings and come back and pitch two more innings on a Wednesday if we need him. If we ever go into extra innings, he's been a starter, so we can get multiple innings out of him there.”
Meanwhile, Brown said relief pitcher Kendall Graveman, whom the Astros acquired from the White Sox at the Trade Deadline, hadn’t made enough progress with his sore right shoulder to be added to the ALCS roster. He wasn’t on the AL Division Series roster, either.
“He's getting better,” Brown said. “This would be like if it was a regular season, it would be a 10-day IL stint with maybe some extra time. I think, from talking to Graveman, he feels a little bit better, just not good enough to go on this roster for this round. So I still think there's hope if we get beyond this that it will be fine, he'll be good to go.”