Ronel Blanco Suspension: Astros Pitcher and Agent Force Dana Brown Into Uncomfortable Move Amidst 10-Day Suspension

Ronel Blanco’s “sticky” situation is set to continue. After the umpires found something “highly sticky” in his gloves, the Houston Astros’ pitcher was immediately ejected. With the league’s rule leading to a 10-game suspension, few expected the Astronauts to sit silently. The team which has been plagued with cheating allegations came in full support of their pitcher. However, in a bizarre twist, Blanco decided to curtail that final push. 

After Blanco was handed a 10-day suspension on Wednesday, the Astros’ GM Dana Brown explained the entire situation. The GM was clear that the team and Blanco wanted to appeal initially. However, in a sudden development, the pitcher felt it was better to take the punishment than to elongate the fight. 

“Initially, he was thinking about appealing,” Dana Brown said as per AP News. “Then him and his agent said, ‘Look, I want to get back out there. I’m not going to appeal this.’ And he’s going to move forward.” That’s quite a tough decision, especially after Blanco vehemently denied using any substance deliberately to gain an advantage over the batter.

However, in the long run, it could prove to be the best decision. The Houston Astros are currently using a six-man rotation. As a result, during a 10-day suspension, Blanco will miss only one turn. That’s not a huge loss for him, especially because it’ll mean he’ll be returning relatively soon. And for a player who has been in fine form till now, a quick comeback is the need of the hour.

Still, the Astros’ comments show that the team believes Ronel Blanco’s incident was just an accident. Dana Brown’s sweat theory proves just that.

Did being a heavy sweater cost Ronel Blanco a turn?

“I would think that they thought it was more than rosin, but from our perspective, I know if you guys notice that Ronel sweats profusely,” Brown said about Blanco’s sweating issues. “...this is a guy who sweats a ton, and when you combine the sweat and the rosin, we felt like maybe that’s what they felt is sticky.” 

Joe Espada and Ronel Blanco too have pushed the sweat theory. The pitcher agreed that he used rosin on his arm but argued that maybe it flew down to his gloves because of his sweat. Espada too noted that he saw a white powder inside Blanco’s glove. However, he said that it was sticky due to moisture and sweat. So could it be true that Blanco’s 10-game suspension came due to his sweat?

That’s quite bizarre but could be plausible. Whatever the case a situation like this could give more pitchers a nervous sweat. And sweat is something that they certainly don’t want after what happened to Blanco.