Detroit Tigers lefty reliever Andrew Vasquez seeks consistency from revamped attack plan

Andrew Vasquez struggled in the final two months of the season with the Detroit Tigers.

Vasquez, a slider-heavy left-handed reliever who earned the nickname "Dragon" from his teammates because he makes a hissing sound every time he throws, surrendered eight runs on 11 hits and nine walks in 8⅔ innings and spent a full month on the injured list.

It seemed like an ugly ending to an otherwise career-best season, supported by a 3.35 ERA in 48⅔ innings.

"It was a crazy year, but that's par for the course," Vasquez said. "I've had a couple of crazy years. It's been a little bit of a transition, but I liked everything with Detroit. ... I was excited to have an opportunity to come back."

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Vasquez, claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies in early August, re-signed with the Tigers after clearing waivers and electing free agency at the beginning of the offseason. It was an easy decision because of manager A.J. Hinch's influence.

"I believe in what A.J. does," said Vasquez, who logged a 2.27 ERA in 39⅔ innings before joining the Tigers. "I think the front office has a good plan, and I think it's a good fit for me. I feel like this is a team I can contribute to. I want to help the team win."

The past three seasons have been a whirlwind for Vasquez.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, known for their pitching genius, acquired him in a trade from the Minnesota Twins, his original team, at the trade deadline in 2021, only to cut him loose in the offseason. He pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants in 2022, then the Phillies and Tigers in 2023.

He has played for six teams in his career, including five teams in the past three seasons; all six teams gave him an opportunity to pitch in the big leagues.

Teams like Vasquez because of his slider.

"I was blessed with the ability to spin the ball," said Vasquez, the son of a high school baseball coach. "I grew up on a baseball field. My dad didn't really let me throw a breaking ball until I was maybe 13. He said, 'Try to throw a cutter, but hold it like this and throw it like a fastball.' It turned into my slider."

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When he went to college, he realized he had a special slider in his repertoire of pitches. He attended UC Santa Barbara and Westmont College before the Twins selected him in the 32nd round of the 2015 draft. The college years were the first time he decided to throw more sliders than fastballs.

In 2023, Vasquez threw 86.8% sliders compared to 7.4% four-seam fastballs and 5.8% sinkers. Opponents had a .216 expected batting average against his slider last season, actually hitting .245.

His slider limits hard contact.

"I've been riding it," Vasquez said. "I've had some struggles with the fastball command, and throughout my entire career, the one constant has been my slider. I ended up having to live by it, but at the same time, it's been pretty effective."

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His slider, though, failed to generate the desired swings and misses last season. He thinks an ankle injury from two seasons ago altered his mechanics, leading to less depth and more horizontal movement. Without whiffs, he had no choice but to rely on weak contact to get his outs.

Vasquez posted a 3.35 ERA with 23 walks and 43 strikeouts across 48⅓ innings in 42 relief appearances for the Phillies (30 games) and Tigers (12 games). His slider produced an underwhelming 18.7% whiff rate in 2023.

More whiffs and more strikeouts are goals for 2024.

"It's no secret what he does," Hinch said Aug. 4, when the Tigers claimed Vasquez off waivers from the Phillies. "He spins a ton of sliders, arguably as much as anybody in baseball. He's somebody that we feel like can attack both lefties and righties, but specifically lefties."

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Vasquez took a step forward in his final two games of the season. He recovered from left calf tightness, finished his rehabilitation in Triple-A Toledo, returned from the injured list and pitched in back-to-back games — Sept. 29 and Sept. 30 — against the Cleveland Guardians at Comerica Park.

In those games, Vasquez tossed 2⅔ hitless innings with one walk and two strikeouts. He mixed in a few more sinkers, which is the plan for his pitch mix moving forward, while still maintaining a 68.3% slider usage.

He eliminated one of his sliders in favor of more sinkers.

Until then, Vasquez had been throwing two variations of the slider — one from a normal arm slot, one from a side-arm slot — for the entire season. The side-arm slider, which creates a sweeping movement, was an addition with the Phillies in spring training when he discovered he could throw from a side-arm angle during infield drills. The coaches encouraged him to test the new variation of his slider in a game.

"It's really fun when it's in the zone," Vasquez said. "The problem was that it moves a lot. It's a different arm slot, so it's a little bit harder to control and stay as sharp as it needs it to be."

Coaches with the Tigers, namely pitching coach Chris Fetter, encouraged Vasquez to eliminate the side-arm slider from his pitch mix when he landed on the injured list in late August. The Tigers asked him to simplify his attack plan.

Vasquez answered the request by challenging himself to throw two pitches, slider and sinker, from regular arm slots throughout his Triple-A games on rehab assignment. The new attack plan helped Vasquez register a 0.96 ERA with two walks and 12 strikeouts across 9⅓ innings in seven games for the Mud Hens and two games for the Tigers.

It wasn't such an ugly ending to Vasquez's career-best season, especially when considering the Tigers were encouraged enough to re-sign the slider-heavy southpaw to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training.

"My goal is to be consistent," Vasquez said. "I think it's a lot easier when I really narrow it down and focus on my two main pitches. I think my slider-sinker combo is good enough, and if I pound those in the zone, I'll be in a good place."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Andrew Vasquez revamps slider plan. Will it work?