It was fun to watch Vasquez really work his way through the Thunder lineup on May 13th. His delivery features a moderately high leg lift with a turn over the rubber that shows his numbers to the hitter, and some shoulder tilt, before uncoiling a smooth, easy delivery with long arm action from a 3/4 slot.  His approach is clearly to pound his three-pitch arsenal down in the lower third of the zone and rely on his sequencing to keep hitters off-balance.  And for the early innings of this viewing he did just that.

His fastball sat 85-to-88 mph (T89), with slight downhill plane and arm-side run at times, but his command wavered after the fourth inning, and he was leaving the ball up in the strike zone.  Combine that with the lack of velo, and it led to hard contact (of his eight hits allowed, a homer by Lane Adams and a double by Sebastian Valle were both on 87 mph fastballs left up, and were what ultimately knocked him out of this game). The cutter sat in the 83-to-87 mph range with similar plane to the fastball and with some moderate late dart.  He had better command of that offering, and it did its job in generating nine ground ball outs.

His changeup sat in two ranges: a 77-to-80 mph version and another in the 70-to-72 range – even throwing 64 & 66 mph versions – but in both velo ranges he slowed his arm down, seemingly aiming the pitch.  It had fading action to the arm side in the higher velo band and flashed some tumble when he was able to take a little off, and he showed average control of the pitch.  He used his curveball sparingly in two versions – one in the 77-to-80 mph range with a slurvy action and some sweep, and a loopy curve at 70-to-71 mph with 1-to-7 shape.

He controlled the running game well, with varied delivery times (1.25-to-1.80) to the plate and a deceptively quick move to first to keep runners close, including a pick-off in the fourth. He fields his position well, showing quick reflexes on two liners back at him, and had a nice pivot and sharp throw to start a 1-6-3 GDP in the fourth inning.

Overall, he’s having a nice start to the season at Reading and his control is improved over last year (2.1 BB/9IP, down from 3.8/9 at Triple-A Lehigh). He has pitched into the seventh inning in each of his seven starts this year in building a 5-2 record and 2.09 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.09, and his 47.1 IP leads the Eastern League.  But the question is, where does he go from here with his repertoire, and is his performance sustainable?

With an average changeup, fringy cutter, and a below-average fastball and curveball, Vasquez is entirely reliant on commanding his fastball and cutter down in the strike zone to be successful, but has to be darn near perfect with his command or he’ll get squared-up.  His Double-A and Triple-A performances from 2012-15 have shown that he lacks the ability to get advanced hitters out consistently. His time at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2015 left something to be desired. He sported a 4.56 ERA over 20 starts, giving up 105 hits over 108.2 IP, with a 1.39 WHIP and just 61 K’s. His 2014 season at Double-A Bowie was largely ineffective as well (116 IP, 4.73 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, .295 BAA).  Even going back to his last stay at Triple-A in 2012 at Tacoma (save for a brief 7.2 IP and 8.22 ERA in Norfolk in 2014), he was rocked in 11 starts and sported a 6.53 ERA, a .319 BAA and a 1.65 WHIP.

What I think we are seeing presently is a 29-year-old at his maxed-out talent level.  He may get a chance to eat some innings later this year in Lehigh Valley if he keeps churning out the quality starts in Reading, but it’s hard to see his repertoire projecting any further than it’s current state, and it’s tough to see him getting another shot at facing big league hitters.