Andrés Eloy Blanco Perez (born April 11, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

, Texas Rangers, and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

Baseball career

Kansas City Royals

Blanco made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals on April 18, 2004. He hit .317 (19-for-60) with five

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

, nine runs, two doubles, two

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

, and one

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

in 19 games. He hit .215 with a .220 on-base percentage in 2005, and .241 with a .290 on-base percentage in 2006, both with Kansas City. Blanco had surgery on September 29, 2006, to repair a posterior labrum tear in his left shoulder, which he injured during a swing five days prior against the Tigers. He did not play in the major leagues in 2007, but batted .192 in the minor leagues with a .226 on-base percentage and a .212 slugging percentage.

Chicago Cubs

He signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs in November 2007, played the 2008 season with the Iowa Cubs where he hit .285/.327/.336, and became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

at the end of the season. In December 2008, he re-signed with the Cubs. On June 20, 2009, during an interleague game between the Cubs and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

, Blanco hit an RBI

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to tie a game in

extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

. He later scored the winning run for the Cubs on a

wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third st ...

thrown by Indians' closer

Kerry Wood Kerry Lee Wood (born June 16, 1977) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Wood first came to prominence as a 20-year-old rookie, ...

. Blanco hit his first major league

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

on July 29, 2009 while playing the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

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Texas Rangers

On March 27, 2010, Blanco was traded to the Texas Rangers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. He subsequently won the Rangers' utility infielder position. In 2011, Blanco batted .224/.263/.342 for Texas. He became a free agent on November 4, 2011.

Washington Nationals

Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

on December 16, 2011. He also received an invitation to spring training.

Philadelphia Phillies

On March 31, 2012, Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

organization. Playing for the Triple–A

Lehigh Valley IronPigs The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they are named in reference to pig iron, used ...

in 2012, he batted .235/.301/.346 with 10 home runs and 40 RBI. He had right shoulder surgery in February 2013, and missed playing the entire 2013 season. The Phillies re-signed Blanco to a minor league contract that included a spring training invitation on November 21, 2013. On June 29, 2014, Blanco was selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. On December 14, 2016, Blanco signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Phillies. On June 7, 2017, Blanco pitched of an inning in a blowout loss to the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, giving up a two-run home run for an ERA of 27.00.

Milwaukee Brewers

On January 30, 2018, Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He was released by the Giants organization prior to the start of the season on March 23. On April 2, 2018, Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

. In 96 games for the Triple–A

Colorado Springs Sky Sox The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were a Minor League Baseball team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and was the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers (2015–2018), Colorado R ...

, he batted .271/.362/.435 with 9 home runs and 47 RBI. Blanco elected free agency following the season on November 2.

Atlanta Braves

On December 7, 2018, Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

that included an invitation to spring training. He spent the 2019 campaign with the Triple–A

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia ...

, playing in 118 games and hitting .262/.364/.443 with 19 home runs and 61 RBI. Blanco elected free agency following the season on November 4, 2019.

Milwaukee Brewers (second stint)

On January 31, 2020, Blanco signed a minor league deal with the

. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Blanco was released by the Brewers organization on May 28.

References

External links

Andrés Blanco
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Andres 1984 births Living people Águilas del Zulia players Arizona League Royals players Chicago Cubs players Gulf Coast Royals players category:Gwinnett Stripers players High Desert Mavericks players Iowa Cubs players Kansas City Royals players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players Major League Baseball players from Venezuela 21st-century Venezuelan sportsmen Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Navegantes del Magallanes players Omaha Royals players Philadelphia Phillies players Round Rock Express players Baseball players from Caracas Texas Rangers players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Wichita Wranglers players Wilmington Blue Rocks players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players