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Pittsburgh Pirates: Vince Velasquez Showing Flashes
When the Pittsburgh Pirates signed veteran pitcher Vince Velasquez many including myself were critical of the signing. The part that concerned fans were whether or not Velasquez was going to be used in the starting rotation or not. The former top-100 prospect has struggled to find consistency as a starting pitcher in his 9-year career.
Last season the Chicago White Sox moved Velasquez into their bullpen. He found a lot more success coming in as a reliever rather than starting. As a starter, his ERA was over 5 while it was in the low 4s as a reliever.
So heading into Spring Training it was announced that Velasquez would have a shot at making the rotation. It seemed like he would either go to the bullpen or the Bucs would utilize a 6-man rotation by the end of Spring. However, when JT Brubaker went to the inijury list it opened up a clear spot and opportunity for Velasquez.
Through his first two starts, the 30-year-old righty showed why the White Sox moved him into the bullpen. His first start against the Reds was just okay, he gave up 3 earned runs but was not able to get through the 5th inning. He struck out 3, and walked 1, but gave up 2 home runs. So not a bad first start, but he would not follow it up well.
His second start was much worse. He took the hill against his former team, the Chicago White Sox. He gave up 5 earned runs and was pulled with two outs in the third inning. The thing that plagued him the most was his command, he walked 4 and was only able to record 1 strikeout. At this point, it seemed evident that Velasquez should not be in the rotation.
But, there is always that game that keeps him around, right? Similar to Rich Hill, Velasquez put together his best start of the season when he needed it most. Against the St. Louis Cardinals, the righty threw 6 scoreless innings. He only allowed 3 hits, and 2 bases on balls, Even better to see he posted 6 punch outs.
Pittsburgh Pirates starter Vince Velasquez most impressive strikeout was against Nolan Arenado:
Velasquez just made Arenado take three really, really, really bad swings. Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches. pic.twitter.com/WW89I9p3tn
— Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) April 14, 2023
This is what scouts saw in Velasquez back when he was climbing the prospect rankings. It seems pretty obvious but when he has command of his pitches he has effective starts. Pitchers with the upper 90s fastball or crazy spin rates can get away with losing command from time to time. Velasquez does not have the stuff, if he wants to continue to show flashes of being an effective starting pitcher then he needs to continue to pounds the strike zone.