3 options to fill Astros’ 27th roster spot for doubleheader

With rosters expanding to 27, who will the Astros add?

The Houston Astros‘ Wednesday contest with the Minnesota Twins was suspended due to inclement weather. A doubleheader is now in place for Wednesday’s game to start where it left off at 12:10 p.m. Thursday with the second game starting 30 minutes after.

Doubleheaders push rosters to 27 players, and for the Astros, they sit a hand short in the bullpen with the six-man rotation in place. Manager Dusty Baker told reporters Wednesday the club will likely add an arm but didn’t disclose which one, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reported.

Joe Perez sits on the 7-day injured list in Double-A, and J.J. Matijevic played all of Triple-A’s Wednesday game in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The bench is already full and healthy, so the addition of a utility player isn’t ideal.

With that being the case, the Astros will likely call up an arm from Triple-A to fill out the bullpen — possibly a reliever who has already pitched in the majors this season. While a long reliever would behoove a doubleheader, Brandon Bielak, Peter Solomon, Josh James and Shawn Dubin pitched in the last two Sugar Land Space Cowboy games.

Parker Mushinski has the best case to be called up by the Astros.

The Astros are rolling with one lefty at the moment in Blake Taylor — who threw 21 pitches in relief Tuesday. Taylor may be available Thursday, but with Baker’s ideology to carry two lefties in the bullpen, Mushinski’s case is the strongest.

Mushinski last appeared in Triple-A on Sunday, throwing one no-hit inning in relief. The Twins’ have six options to hit lefty on their active roster, and with a second lefty in the bullpen, Mushinski helps with matchups.

The samples are small, but for Mushinski, he sports opposite splits. Right-handed opposing hitters are slashing to a .500 OPS in 12 plate appearances, while lefties are sitting at .733 OPS in 10 plate appearances. Wednesday’s order was right-handed heavy, offering the Astros a perfect spot to pitch Mushinski in low-leverage early Thursday.

Ronel Blanco has the most innings of the three, so will the Astros look to him for depth?

With 6.1 major-league innings this season, Ronel Blanco has pitched the most with the Astros of these three in 2022. The right-hander sported a 7.11 ERA in April, while striking out seven to four walks.

Blanco pitched last Saturday, working one perfect inning in Triple-A. While allowing a base runner in six of his seven appearances in April, the 28-year-old struggled to command his pitches at the highest level of his career, although his fastball ranked above average by Baseball Savant.

Although Martinez and Blanco have the slight upper hand regarding experience, Mushinski makes the best case to be called up for Thursday’s doubleheader. The lefty would join a seven-man bullpen housing only one other southpaw and could help fill out one game Thursday in relief.