Blanco still taking his best swing at dream
“First, you have to want to do it. If not, it’s not going to work. I want to be in there. I want to compete.”
Andres Blanco has all the excuses to pack it in as a professional baseball player.
The 35-year-old who made his major-league debut a decade-and-a-half ago is riding buses throughout the International League with the Gwinnett Stripers, the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate — a year after taking plane rides all over the Pacific Coast League for the Brewers’ Triple-A team in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Fourteen Gwinnett teammates have been called up to Atlanta in this season’s first 10 weeks while Blanco, who has seven years of major-league service time, stays put.
The switch hitter, who is with his sixth organization and played six positions in the majors, has not been part of a major-league game since being a late-inning replacement in the Phillies’ 9-8, 14-inning win over the Marlins on Sept. 12, 2017.
Blanco, who spent parts of two years (2012, ’14) with the IronPigs and parts of four seasons (2014-17) with the Phillies, remains a man waiting for that next promotion. The Venezuelan does so with a smile on his face.
“It’s hard,” he said. “One day you’re here; the next morning you’re taking a plane somewhere or the next year you’re getting traded.
“The season begins and it’s cold and the weather changes a lot. That makes it even harder. You deal with all because you love what you’re doing. That’s the only explanation I can give.
“The travel delays, the weather delays, the doubleheaders, night games then a day game. You’ve got to love to play baseball. I love it.”
The utilityman also is a role model for younger players trying to refine their routines and learning to deal with being one step away from the major leagues.
“I have a dream of wanting to be a special player,” he said. “I don’t know where or how, but I’m going to keep being an example to guys of how to get ready every day and to play hard every day.
“Someone will see you, like it, and say ‘If that old man can do it, so can I.’ And I’m proof that if you still have your shoes, you still have a chance to make someone’s life change — my kids or a younger player — or get another opportunity to go back to the big leagues.”
Blanco spent 2014 regaining
— Andres Blanco
his footing after missing the entire 2013 campaign because of an injury. His locker that year in the IronPigs and Phillies clubhouses was next to Maikel Franco. He was there to mentor him.
He made sure the up-andcoming third baseman was on time for meetings and workouts, and ready for the daily grind of a professional baseball season.
The two remain friends and talk periodically during the season. Blanco also stays in touch with fellow former Phillie Freddy Galvis and current Phillies reliever Hector Neris.
The 5-foot-10 192-pound Blanco has stuck around the game in part because of his ability to handle any situation, any position in any game.
His career on-base and slugging percentages are highest in the last three innings of a game. He has as many hits (24) as strikeouts as a pinch hitter.
“First, you have to want to do it,” Blanco said. “If not, it’s not going to work. I want to be in there. I want to compete. I get more satisfaction to have an opportunity to do it, to win [the game], to be the hero.
“One pitch. That’s all you’re thinking: ‘Just give me one pitch.’ Eighth inning, ninth inning, two outs, just find a way to get on base.”
Blanco does not study video of himself at the plate. He also pays little attention to who is on the mound before he gets in the batter’s box in an important, late-inning at-bat.
“You get in there and see Mariano Rivera’s got the ball,” Blanco said. “Do you want to face him? If you get your named called, then look out and say, ‘I have to face this guy,’ well, of course you’re going to strike out.”
If Blanco never plays another major-league game, he can look back on his career knowing he took his best swing.
really Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com