PEORIA, Ariz. — Randy Vásquez arrived in spring training last year flabby and throwing 88 mph.
A big part of his February and March was a focus on core training.
That effort off the field did not help Vásquez’s velocity at the start of the season. His average fastball sat in the 92-94 mph range most of the first half of the season and crept up to 95 and then 96 before reaching 97.3 in his final start.
“We had the vision of, like, we stay this course, hopefully this happens,” pitching coach Ruben Niebla recalled. “And it happened.”
And it carried over.
Vásquez arrived at this year’s camp in shape and throwing hard, reaching 96 mph in his first live batting practice.
And in his Cactus League debut at the start of Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Dodgers, Vásquez averaged 96.6 mph on his fastball while walking one batter and allowing one single working two scoreless innings.
“Just continuing off what we were working on last year,” he said after his 31-pitch outing. “I was able to find that 98, 97, 96 (at the end of 2025). And just trying to use that going into the offseason and working on that throughout the offseason to get where I’m at today. …
I think it was just working on that offseason plan with Niebla and really just constant communication with him. I feel like I’ve come into this season just more prepared.”
Vásquez threw 11 fastballs in all, three of them at least 97 mph. He threw nine balls that fast in 2025, all in his final three starts. His average fastball velocity was more than 5 mph faster than his spring debut in 2025.
The reviews regarding Vásquez have been glowing throughout the offseason and into the start of spring. And a leaner, chiseled physique was clearly evident.
“I feel like I maintained the same weight (but) maybe am just a little bit more prepared than I was last time,” the 27-year-old right-hander said through interpreter Jorge Merlos.
“I was able to build myself physically well. And I feel like at the end of the season, you saw what happened. I’ve maintained that throughout the offseason to come back the same way.”
Over his two seasons since arriving as part of the Juan Soto trade in December 2023, Vásquez has been best characterized by his ability to get out of frequent jams. He has been good enough to make 46 starts, including the 26 he made while spending most of ‘25 in the major leagues and posting a 3.84 ERA over 133⅔ innings.
No pitcher who threw at least 130 innings in 2025 yielded a higher contact rate than Vásquez’s 85.4%, but the uptick in the fastball helped him get more misses on swings late in the season.
It would follow that more consistent velocity in ‘26 should help him get more strikeouts and cut down on his baserunners.
Padres manager Craig Stammen has been complimentary of Vásquez all spring but had somewhat surprisingly not included him among the starters who are assured a job at the start of the season. The omission was not accidental.
“I mean, he’s right there,” Stammen said Sunday afternoon. “… We told him he’s coming in to compete. I like what we see when we tell Randy he’s got to compete.
And you find out a little bit about somebody when something is not handed to them. We love Randy. The level we’re seeing so far this spring training, what we (saw in) the offseason, he’s gonna have a great season for us this year.”
News expected soon
The Padres are optimistic left-hander Yuki Matsui’s adductor (groin) strain will not prevent him from being ready for the start of the season.
And they do expect he will spend the entirety of spring training in Arizona trying to get ready for opening day.
The Padres are waiting for Team Japan to announce that Matsui will not play in the World Baseball Classic. That announcement is expected by Tuesday (Wednesday in Japan).
Fostering family
Stammen declared at the news conference announcing his hiring as manager that the Padres would be a family and indicated players’ and coaches’ kids would be around Petco Park during the season more than ever before.
“Family is a big part of who I am and what I believe in,” Stammen said that day. “… I hope to bring that type of culture to the team.”
Even before Sunday’s official family day, in which players and coaches brought their families to play on the main practice field in place of morning workouts, the Padres had already had two days this spring in which kids were abundant.
“I want it to feel like when they come to the Peoria Sports Complex or Petco Park or wherever we’re playing that they’re going to their family, whether that’s their immediate family with them or the people that we have in the locker room feeling like family,” Stammen said Sunday. “
And so the more that we create opportunities for that to be the normal, I think the better chance we have of that actually happening. A lot of people can say they want us to be a family, but how do you actually go about executing it. We’re gonna try and see how it works.”
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