Padres getting timely breakout from pitcher involved in Juan Soto deal for two reasons

The San Diego Padres are currently dealing with a lot of questions about their starting rotation to begin the 2026 MLB season.

However, there is one pitcher who isn't a question mark, but rather an exclamation point for how good he's been this year, seemingly out of nowhere.

As MLB.com's Jared Greenspan shared, Padres righty acquired in the Juan Soto trade, Randy Vasquez, is finally breaking out as a star thanks to two reasons, and more specifically, two pitches getting a bit faster.

Padres righty breaking out at the right time for 2-pitch reasons

Vasquez is throwing two pitches faster than he usually does, according to Greenspan: "2026 4-seam velocity: 94.3 mph (+0.8). 2026 sinker velocity: 94.5 mph (+1.4)."

The Padres righty is throwing harder than ever, but arguably more important is the timing of this development for the Padres.

"Think about this: Before last September, Vasquez had only touched 95 mph 10 times in his entire career," Greenspan writes. "He's done so 57 times in six starts since, even though he didn't reach that mark last time out on Saturday."

While his second start of the season didn't feature any 95 mph+ pitches, the frigid Boston weather likely didn't help. But, he still was great against the Boston Red Sox lineup.

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This season, Vasquez has a 0.75 ERA across 12 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts and a 1.00 WHIP in two starts this season.

He has a 3.93 ERA in 281.1 innings pitched in his career with only 184 strikeouts. While it's a two-start sample size, Vasquez is looking better than ever, and the increased velocity on his pitching is a big help.

Adding around one full mph to his pitches is a significant development, and he's added that speed to his 4-seam and sinker.

With Walker Buehler and German Marquez struggling to begin the season, and Nick Pivetta and Michael King not dominating like the Padres did last season, this development from Vasquez is some great news.

This is a very welcome development for the Padres, as Vasquez adding some velocity to his pitching, and turning into a quality starter would help San Diego resolve one of the biggest question marks on their roster without having to make a move.

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