Blubaugh's unique path to Futures Game nod

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

HOUSTON -- A.J. Blubaugh (the Astros’ No. 6 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline) woke up July 2 to a cell phone filled with congratulatory text messages, which came as a surprise to him. Earlier that morning, it was announced that Blubaugh was selected to represent Houston at the 2024 All-Star Futures Game, which is set for 3 p.m. CT Saturday at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

“No one really told me before,” he said. “It was actually something pretty cool to wake up to.”

Blubaugh, a right-hander, is 6-2 with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 75 1/3 innings over 16 appearances (14 starts) this season, 15 of which have come with Triple-A Sugar Land after he opened the season with Double-A Corpus Christi. He made one start with the Hooks before receiving another surprise. Blubaugh was promoted to Triple-A on April 10.

“I moved in all my stuff in Corpus, and I was really set on showing my craft there. We took the trip to Frisco early in the year, and I was out of there after one day there,” he said. “It was a shock, but it was a good shock.”

Blubaugh, 24, was taken in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was a standout in ’21 (2.63 ERA in 19 relief appearances) and ’22 (3.25 ERA in 16 games, which included seven starts). The Astros stretched him into a starter in a piggyback system last year, his first full year of pro ball, and he struck out 112 batters in 100 innings over 26 appearances (12 starts). Blubaugh was promoted to Double-A on Aug. 26, and he posted a 1.26 ERA in four outings (three starts).

A strong performance in the Arizona Fall League (2.25 ERA in 12 innings over six appearances) in 2023 helped Blubaugh earn an invite to Major League camp in the spring. He could be the next pitching prospect to make a push for the big leagues, behind Spencer Arrighetti and Jake Bloss (No. 9 prospect), both of whom made their debut this year.

“For a guy that we drafted two years ago as a reliever at a small school in Milwaukee-Wisconsin, and [a guy] having success at Triple-A and knocking on the door of the big leagues, he has been great,” Astros assistant general manager Gavin Dickey said. “His life [as] a starter is very short, so he’s still learning on the fly. He’s still young. He’s [24] years old, but the adjustments that he’s made learning on the fly have been great.”

Controlling walks has been a big reason why Blubaugh has succeeded at Triple-A. He’s also added a cutter, which he began throwing during the Fall League, as well as a two-seam fastball to his pitch mix.

“I’m still early in the works in it, but I’ve seen some success with it, which is really nice,” Blubaugh said. “Really just trying to get more people off my fastball and set up some of the hitters.”

When asked about the reason for his success in Triple-A, Blubaugh says it comes down to trusting his stuff.

“At the end of the day, that’s all I can control,” he said. “I can’t control what the hitters do or anything other than that. Just focusing on perfecting my craft and making the adjustments at the right time and trusting my coaches, because they’re going to help me get to where I need to be.”

Other Houston players who have participated in past Futures Games are Hunter Brown (2022), Yainer Diaz ('22), Yordan Alvarez ('17-18), Alex Bregman ('16), Kyle Tucker ('17), Jose Altuve ('11) and Jon Singleton ('12), all of whom are starters with the Astros.

“That’s the end goal, to get there and have success at that level,” Blubaugh said. “I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and control what I can control, at the end of the day, and hopefully one day we can make it up there.”

For now, Blubaugh is making the most of what could be his final season in the Minor Leagues.

“I’m having some of the most fun I’ve ever had in baseball with this team and coaching staff we have here in Sugar Land,” he said. “They make sure showing [up] to the ballpark every day is a blast, and that helps ease some of the pressure that might weigh on anyone throughout the season. It kind of just relaxes you and lets you do your own things.”