SAN DIEGO -- Craig Stammen had only just moved from the Padres’ bullpen into their front office when he found himself in an executive suite at the 2023 Winter Meetings in Nashville, discussing the team’s potential return package in a Juan Soto trade.
Michael King would be the headliner in that deal. Drew Thorpe would be the big-name prospect (later flipped for Dylan Cease). Kyle Higashioka and Jhony Brito were known commodities that could impact the big league club.
And then there was Randy Vásquez. Stammen found himself digging into the arsenal of this unheralded 6-foot-tall right-hander with an intriguing array of pitches but not a whole lot of consistency.
“[I remember] doing a deep dive on his pitch mix, and what type of pitcher he is and what type of pitcher he could be,” Stammen said. “When we got him, we felt like he was pretty raw and had room for improvement. … Randy’s put in the work. And the hard work has paid off for him.”
It’s paying off for the Padres, too. Initially an afterthought in that Soto trade, Vásquez has emerged as a steadying presence in the San Diego rotation. He continued his ascent on Saturday night, working six innings of two-hit ball as the Padres beat the Tigers, 3-0, for their first win of the season -- and Stammen’s first as manager of the club.
In no uncertain terms, Vásquez is a different pitcher entirely than the one the Padres acquired in December of 2023. He spent most of his first couple of seasons struggling to miss bats and nibbling around the strike zone. Vásquez always possessed an innate ability to get big outs when he needed them. But he routinely put himself in bad situations.
The numbers called for regression. Vásquez’s ERA was in the 3s. His FIP was in the 5s. This wasn’t supposed to be sustainable.
Except a funny thing happened last summer. Vásquez never regressed to the mean. The mean regressed to Vásquez. He started missing bats. His velocity ticked up. He stopped nibbling, and his walk rate went down.
All it took was a complete reinvention, thanks in part to Yu Darvish. Vásquez sought Darvish as a mentor, and Darvish was more than willing. The two developed a close friendship where they’d talk via call or text after nearly all of Vásquez’s bullpens and workouts.
Knowing he needed to change his body to tap into more velocity, Vásquez overhauled his offseason routine. He says it’s paying direct dividends on the field. He was a Spring Training standout. That has now carried into the regular season.
“I feel like I trust my pitches a lot more, based on the routine that I’ve had throughout the offseason,” Vásquez said through interpreter Pedro Gutierrez. “I’m getting a better feel for my pitches and just trusting that the results [will come].”
So far, so good. Vásquez’s fastball touched 98 mph on Saturday. His four-seamer averaged 95 and his sinker 95.5. He blended those heaters with a nasty cutter, plus a curveball, changeup and sweeper. The Tigers were off-balance all night.
“One of the best games Randy’s probably pitched for the Padres,” Stammen said. “He attacked the zone really well, used his fastball, used his breaking stuff, had it all under control today.”
Vásquez generally pitches to contact. But perhaps this is a new version of Vásquez. He punched out eight, even against a Tigers lineup that had been loaded with left-handed hitters.
“Tremendous,” said Ramón Laureano, who is off to a hot start to the season himself. “He struck out eight in six innings -- he has that in his pocket. And then in his other pocket, he has a bunch of ground balls, too.”
In the immediate aftermath of that 2023 trade, pitching coach Ruben Niebla phoned King. They chatted for well over an hour. Among the subjects that came up were the young pitchers the Padres had also acquired from New York in the deal. King offered his opinion.
“Randy’s got the highest ceiling,” King recalled. “I was like, ‘If you can develop him and get him consistent, he’s going to be a big league starter.”
Vásquez has become exactly that. Which leads to the next question: Where, exactly, is that ceiling? Vásquez has been viewed largely as a back-of-the-rotation option. But if the Padres get this version on a more consistent basis? Vásquez might be a legitimate difference-maker in a rotation that features its share of question marks.
“The consistency in his delivery has just become elite,” King said. “And now he’s able to locate all of his pitches. He’s got elite movement on four pitches, maybe five pitches.
“So when he’s able to command it? He does what he just did.”