Randy Vásquez looking to cement his spot in Padres rotation

Since the start of the 2024 season, Dylan Cease has taken the ball every time his turn has come up in the rotation. The rest of the go-tos before Nick Pivetta joined the stable this year — Yu Darvish, Michael King and Joe Musgrove — have cycled off and on and sometimes back off the active roster so much that the workload of an up-and-down arm is second only to Cease’s over the last two years.

This time, Randy Vásquez hopes he’s done enough to stay for good.

“I knew there was going to be an opportunity to come back to the majors, so I never gave up on that,” Vásquez said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “And luckily I pitched well enough this last time that the team noticed that I could stay up here.”

The Padres certainly noticed six innings of no-walk ball at Coors Field.

Of course, they’ve been plenty appreciative all along of what Vásquez has provided since arriving as part of the fine-print return in the Juan Soto trade.

Michael King was the headliner in December 2023.

But some six years of control of an arm like Vásquez was an important injection into an organization that had traded away a number of arms over the years.

Vásquez made his first start toward the end of April 2024 and wound up making 20 starts while teaming with Matt Waldron as a bridge while the team managed injuries to both Darvish and Musgrove.

Then the Padres acquired Martín Pérez at last year’s trade deadline and Vásquez made just two starts the rest of the season.

This year, his ERA (3.65) was more than a run better than last year’s mark (4.87) when trades for left-handers JP Sears and Nestor Cortes seemingly shoved Vásquez down the depth chart.

Vásquez had been operating without much leash in July, gave up five runs in four innings in his Aug. 2 start and was optioned to Triple-A El Paso after that start.

That move, Padres manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday, was as much about managing the entire allotment of starting pitching options as it was giving Vásquez a break, too, as he’d thrown a career-high 107⅔ innings in the majors at that point.

“There’s almost maybe (not) enough superlatives to really articulate the appreciation and gratitude for what Randy’s done the last two years,” Shildt said after confirming that Vásquez would start Thursday’s series-opener against the Rockies. “He’s been that up-and-down guy, and he’s done exceptionally well when he’s been able to be here. He’s done what really ultimately the No. 1 job of a starter is and give your team a chance to win games. And he’s kept a really positive attitude in very tough circumstances, because we’ve had a lot of moving parts.”

Indeed.

When King returned to the injured list after one start, it was Vásquez who was asked to return from El Paso and pitch behind an opener at Dodger Stadium. He allowed two runs in 3⅔ innings that day, was promptly sent to the minors and then returned to the majors on Sept. 6 at Coors Field after nearly two weeks away from a mound of any kind after the birth of his fifth child to turn in a rare quality start at Coors Field.

Vasquez struck out three and allowed three runs — two earned — on eight hits and no walks in helping the Padres snap a five-game losing streak.

As he prepares for his first back-to-back starts in the majors since the trade deadline, Vásquez admitted Wednesday that the demotion this year — after a year of establishing himself in the organization — was tougher to swallow than last year’s.

Looking forward, however, is the reason he was in the right head space when he got the latest opportunity.

“I think this time I felt it a little bit more,” Vásquez said. “I thought I did a lot of good things this year and the results really showed that. … Obviously they optioned me because I did have options and I just took it as that. It’s like, well I have options. I’ll keep going. I’ll keep doing my job.”

Sears posted a 5.52 ERA in three up-and-down starts after the trade and Cortes had a 5.52 ERA in six starts before biceps tendonitis sent him to the injured list last week.

For Shildt’s part, there’s far too many variables in play for him to declare the fifth spot in the rotation belonging to Vásquez from here on out (“nothing’s in a silo with this deal,” he said).

But the 26-year-old Vásquez — with a 3.91 ERA this year and 42 starts since the start of 2024, second only to Cease (62) — believes it’s his spot to lose now.

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “But as long as the team gives me the opportunity to go out there, I will go out there and give it the best of my ability to go out there and win. Obviously all of our goal is to win a World Series at the end of the day.”