The Houston Astros just called up the guy who could one day be their pitching ace.
That's A.J. Blubaugh, a minor league star who is joining the Astros for their Wednesday matchup against the Detroit Tigers.
It'll be a matchup of rookie, right-handed studs as Jackson Jobe starts for Detroit.
Here's what you need to know about Blubaugh ahead of his MLB debut:
Who is A.J. Blubaugh?
A.J. Blubaugh is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound, 24-year old right-handed pitcher.
He's originally from Bellville, Ohio, where he attended Clear Fork High School as a multi-sport member of the Colts.
Blubaugh attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
He was great at the small school, good enough to get himself drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft.
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A.J. Blubaugh prospect rankings
At the time of his call-up, Blubaugh is ranked 10th in MLB.com's Astros top prospects list.
It's still been quite the rise for a player originally viewed as minor league depth at the time of his drafting.
He had his biggest achievement so far in 2024, when he played in the Futures Game at MLB All-Star Weekend.
A.J. Blubaugh stats
So far this season, Blubaugh is 2-2 at Triple-A Sugar Land with a 3.86 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 21.0 innings.
He worked to a 3.83 ERA at Triple-A a season ago with just over a strikeout per inning.
In his minor league career, Blubaugh averages 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings and 3.8 walks per nine innings.
Is A.J. Blubaugh good?
Here's the Fangraphs scouting report on Blubaugh:
Blubaugh throws from a high slot that assists in generating his 91-95 mph four-seamer’s solid riding action. He throws both a curveball and slider, the curve a very vertical, deep breaker, while the slider has late tilting action to it. He’ll manipulate the amount of depth on both breaking balls, which each project to solid-average. He also has a changeup that he throws with fastball arm speed; it shows fade and sink. It has more gradual than sudden action, but it will still serve as an average pitch for him. Blubaugh’s fringe command will limit his overall ceiling, but he has the pure stuff to project as a backend starter or swingman.
It seems that Blubaugh has outperformed the expectations for him at every level.
The Astros are hoping that holds true in the major leagues.
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