Minnesota Twins: New lefty Andrew Vasquez one to watch

The Minnesota Twins made their September call-ups, and though he suffered an unearned run his first appearance, there’s plenty to like about lefty reliever Andrew Vasquez.

For those who play dynasty or keeper league fantasy baseball, identifying the next dominant, high-strikeout reliever is a bit of stat sheet mining that many fantasy players enjoy. Those could be the only people who have known about Andrew Vasquez before he was called up by the Minnesota Twins when rosters expanded on September 1.

The Minnesota Twins drafted Andrew Vasquez in the 32nd round in 2015 out of Westmont College in California. The 6’6″ lefty has tremendous build to his 6’6″ frame, which already allows him to hide the ball, but then he comes from a high 3/4 slot with the pitch, giving him a hard read, even if his velocity is not elite.

Vasquez works with a fastball that typically sits in the low-90s with excellent late glove side movement, a change with some solid wiggle, and a good slow curve that he can really locate on the arm side of the plate with precision, less accurately on glove side.

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Many with that sort of repertoire would immediately go to the rotation as an inning-eater, org-type arm that spends a half-decade in the upper minors before getting a chance or two in the big leagues. Instead, Vasquez immediately bought into the idea of moving to the bullpen, making all 12 of his appearances out of the bullpen in his draft year.

The 2.92 ERA he put up in his draft season has now been nearly a full run and a half more than any season of his career. In 2016, he pitched 38 1/3 innings with a 1.41 ERA and 51 strikeouts. In 2017, he pitched 58 innings with a 1.55 ERA and 85 strikeouts. He spent 2018 moving up three levels, and he posted his best season, with a 1.30 ERA over 69 1/3 innings and 108 strikeouts.

One year of numbers like that could be a fluke. Producing numbers like that only at the low levels could be a fluke. A minor league career with a 1.52 ERA over 178 innings with 266 strikeouts is no fluke for Andrew Vasquez, and the big lefty could be a very effective piece for the Minnesota Twins.