8-8-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
After dropping 5 of their last 6 games, the Pirates dip below .500 for the first time since the All Star Break. They have a chance to fix that today in the finale versus the Padres and their starter, Randy Vasquez, as the Bucs look to avoid getting swept at home for the first time since April.
Being a pitcher named Vasquez in Pittsburgh doesn’t have the best connotation in recent history, though Randy spells his surname differently and doesn’t have a familial connection to You-Know-Who.
Vasquez, like Michael King, came over from the Yankees in the Juan Soto trade. He has had a less successful transition to playing in San Diego as he has a 4.62 ERA and 1.53 WHIP while allowing 12 home runs in just 76 innings this year – and the underlying numbers indicate he is still over-performing expectations.
Much of the problem possibly spawns from the pitch mix as Vasquez has 6 distinct pitches (per FanGraphs) that he has thrown at least 10% of the time this season: mid-90s 4-seam, low-80s curve, mid-90s sinker, low-90s cutter, high-80s changeup and low-80s sweeper.
Having a diverse pitch mix is great but Vasquez appears stretched too thin with his arsenal as none of the pitches have performed exceptionally well in his career and only his cutter has been above average this season – even with xBA of .285 and xSLG of .405.
He mostly utilizes the 4-seam/curve/sinker against RHH and 4-seam/changeup/curve when facing LHH so hitters should be looking for the elevated heater from both sides of the plate.
This is the most winnable matchup of the series and, given it’s also the last, let’s get a dub here.
Let’s Go Bucs!
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