Randy Vasquez gets the ball for the San Diego Padres on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies, another chance to show that his breakout 2026 is no fluke. The right-hander, once treated as a throw-in in the 2024 Juan Soto-Yankees deal, has turned himself into one of San Diego’s most useful arms.
Vasquez, 26, enters the start with a 2.96 ERA across 54.2 innings pitched, along with a 1.19 WHIP and 45 strikeouts. His average fastball has climbed to 94.9 MPH, and his 7.1 BB% ranks in the 71st percentile among qualified pitchers. He has leaned on weak contact to keep damage down, a style that has worked well enough to mask a 5.44 xERA and keep him in the rotation.
The numbers around him help explain why this start matters. The Padres were 31-22 heading into Tuesday and favored at minus-112 with the over-under set at 7.5 runs, while the Phillies arrived at 27-27. San Diego had averaged 3.98 runs per game in 2026 and just 3.63 at home, and its.672 OPS against right-handed pitching was the third-worst mark in the league, leaving little room for error against a division-caliber opponent.
Vasquez’s pitch mix has been part of the rise. His four-seamer, used 32% of the time, and his cutter, thrown 25%, have given him enough looks to stay ahead when his velocity is right. That matters against Philadelphia, which has hit.264 with a.472 slugging percentage against his fastballs when they have been thrown at 95 MPH or slower.
He was once viewed more as an innings eater than a difference-maker, a serviceable piece in a major trade who might soak up starts and little else. Instead, he has paired better command with more life on his fastball and given San Diego a steadier option than the label suggested a year ago. The next step is bigger: doing it against a Phillies lineup that can punish mistakes and keeping the Padres in position as the schedule tightens.
If Vasquez handles this one, the conversation around him shifts again. What started as a throw-in has become a rotation assignment the Padres can point to when they need proof that development still matters as much as reputation.
