Will Wagner, Ronel Blanco Named Pacific Coast League Player and Pitcher of the Week
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys have swept the final Pacific Coast League weekly awards of 2023, with INF Will Wagner being named the PCL Player of the Week and RHP Ronel Blanco earning the PCL Pitcher of the Week award as announced by Minor League Baseball on Monday. Wagner, who
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys have swept the final Pacific Coast League weekly awards of 2023, with INF Will Wagner being named the PCL Player of the Week and RHP Ronel Blanco earning the PCL Pitcher of the Week award as announced by Minor League Baseball on Monday.
Wagner, who was promoted to Sugar Land on Tuesday, went 15-for-26 (.557) in six games, hitting three doubles with four RBI, three runs scored and two stolen bases. He led the Pacific Coast League in hits, average and OBP (.607), was second in total bases (18), tied for third in doubles and fourth in OPS (1.299). The 25-year-old reached safely in all six games and had five multi-hit games, including a pair of four-hit games, and delivered the game-winning hit for the Space Cowboys in a 4-3 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas on Friday night. Wagner also led Triple-A in hits and batting average during the week.
Selected in the 18th round of the 2021 draft by the Astros out of Liberty, this is the first Player of the Week honor at any level for Wagner, who across three levels in 2023 hit .337 in 65 games with 20 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 38 RBI with 44 runs scored.
On the hill, Blanco continued a run of dominant outings with his start on Saturday night, hurling 6.0 shutout innings. The righty gave up just two hits and walked one while striking out six in a 5-2 Sugar Land victory, retiring nine of the final 10 hitters that he faced. He was one of just five qualified pitchers during the week that did not allow an earned run and led qualified pitchers in batting average against (.100) and WHIP (0.50). Blanco finished the season on a 19.0 inning scoreless streak, not allowing a run in any of his last three outings.
Signed by Houston in 2016 out of the Dominican Republic, this is the first Pitcher of the Week honor for Blanco, who was named a Pacific Coast League Post-Season All-Star in 2021 as a reliever. In the month of September, Blanco made four starts for Sugar Land and went 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA, giving up two runs in 22.0 innings of work, striking out 27 and limiting opponents to just eight hits. The 30-year-old threw a career-high 125.1 total innings between Triple-A Sugar Land and Houston this season.
This is the third Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week honor for a Space Cowboys’ hurler this year, joining JP France, and Jairo Solis, and Wagner brings in the second Pacific Coast League Player of the Week award for Sugar Land after Justin Dirden was named Player of the Week for May 1 through 7.
*ABOUT THE SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS: *
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros and compete in the Pacific Coast League. They began play as the Astros Triple-A affiliate in 2021 and began playing under the Space Cowboys brand in 2022. The Space Cowboys play at Constellation Field, located at the corner of Hwy-6 and US-90 Alternate in Sugar Land, Texas. Follow the team on Twitter (@SLSpaceCowboys), Instagram (@slspacecowboys), Facebook (SLSpaceCowboys) and their official website (slspacecowboys.com). Fans can purchase full-season and partial-season plans for 2024 by visiting slspacecowboys.com/tickets.