Padres Pitcher Highlighted as 'Surprise Player' Making Big Impact This Season

Amid all of the uncertainty and inconsistency that the starting rotation of the San Diego Padres has seen, there have been a few gems. One of these is starter Randy Vásquez, who has already made a strong impression early in the new MLB season.

So far, Vásquez has made three starts for the Padres, posting an ERA of 1.02 overall across17.2 innings of work. His outings have allowed the Padres to feel confident each time he takes the mound, helping to ease some concerns within the starting rotation.

Having Vásquez, Nick Pivetta and Michael King gives the Padres a decent top-three of the rotation, and his emergence has been paramount.

The right-hander was seen as a throw-in for the trade that sent star outfielder Juan Soto to the New York Yankees. But Vásquez is no longer an unknown commodity around baseball, and he is making a name for himself this season.

In fact, Vásquez has caught the attention of one major insider in MLB.

MLB writer and insider Jon Heyman of the New York Post listed Vásquez as one of the 12 surprise players around the game who have made a big impact this season. This is major praise from Heyman and shows how good Vásquez has been early this season.

Over the spring, there were signs that Vásquez's breakout could be coming, including him upping his velocity. The right-hander started to see an increase in velocity going back to the end of last season when he hit 97 mph in a start in September.

Vásquez then fired six shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers in his opening start of the season, continuing the increased velocity. Against Detroit, Vásquez threw a 97.8 mph sinker, and his pitches averaged 95.5 mph overall.

Last season, his averages came in at 93.1 mph, so there was a major change over the offseason. The increased velocity has instantly proven to be effective, with Vásquez seeing much stronger results on the mound.

“Better physical shape and the work in the gym,” he said recently of how he upped his velocity..

Vásquez has also seen his strikeout rate increase, which has helped contribute to his overall success.

His work behind the scenes has made a big difference, and San Diego is now relying on him to keep up the strong work on the mound.