Andrew Vasquez and the Blue Jays’ New Bullpen Weapon

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Reliever Andrew Vasquez got his first whiff of the spring on a diving slider to Pittsburgh's Cole Tucker. So, he threw him another. And then, another.

Of the Toronto Blue Jay reliever’s 19 pitches against the Pirates, 12 were sliders. But that’s nothing new.

Vasquez calls it a “sideways curveball,” a pitch he’s thrown a majority of the time since college. His father—a high school baseball coach—wouldn’t let Vasquez throw a breaking ball until he was 13. But after learning a cutter grip, the lefty slowly tweaked the pitch into the looping slider we now see—the newest weapon in the Blue Jays bullpen.

He’s tried to move away from the slider-heavy approach at times, but every instance Vasquez comes back to his strength. With every organization and at every level, coaches have emphasized the need for Vasquez to get his fastball over the white, but he never strays too far from the slide piece.

Throwing the breaking ball has become subconscious for Vasquez, who threw slider 89% of the time in the bigs last year. The 28-year-old’s fastball, which sits around 90 miles per hour, works best as a wrinkle. He’s most comfortable with a catcher when they know how and when to mix in the heater. How much to throw it, however, is an involving equation, Vasquez said, always looking to be one step ahead of hitters who might be sitting on something.

“I’m not trying to reinvent my wheel. I'm just trying to maximize It,” Vasquez said.

At this point, the Jays know what they’re getting, and the pitch they’re betting on with a major-league deal. Though Vasquez has just 6.2 MLB innings (and a career 8.1 ERA), the production in the upper minors earned Toronto’s one year, $800,000 commitment. With the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins' Triple A affiliates in 2021, Vasquez worked 48.1 innings of 3.54 ERA, striking out 14.7 batters per nine with a 1.055 WHIP.

Despite the strong minors season, Vasquez was non-tendered by LA in late November, hours before baseball’s 99-day lockout. A few teams reached out immediately, but Vasquez wanted to play the field.

“I wasn’t ready,” Vasquez said. “I wanted to see what the full field of opportunity was.”

A first-time free agent, Vasquez prioritized opportunity over location or money. He has one option year left, meaning he can be sent to Triple A without waivers, but Vasquez feels he’s at a point where he should be impacting a major league team, one pushing for the postseason.

He had an opportunity to influence a pennant chase last year, pitching for the Dodgers in a September series against the division-rival Giants. Born in Rancho Cucamonga, just outside Los Angeles, Vasquez delivered 1.2 innings with 3 strikeouts pitching for his hometown team in front of his friends and family.

He got a taste of the big moment, and he sees more with the Blue Jays, calling Toronto an exciting team. Vasquez enters camp battling for a bullpen spot with other lefties like Tayler Saucedo and Ryan Borucki. If he makes the team and gets the ball in a big spot, there's no question what pitch Vasquez is going to.

"Nothing will ever beat throwing a massive slider and seeing them strikeout," Vasquez said.