How did Vasquez become 'The Dragon'? He sounds like one

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Jake Rogers knew exactly what question was coming as soon as he was asked about reliever Andrew Vasquez.

“Oh, you mean The Dragon,” Rogers said with a smile.

That’s how most of the Tigers clubhouse knows him. It’s not a nickname that makes sense at first glance at a 6-foot-6, 235-pound lefty reliever, not even when you see him pitch.

Unless you listen to him pitch.

“He hisses,” manager A.J. Hinch said.

It’s not really a hiss.

“It’s like an exhale,” Vasquez explained. “It’s not on purpose. It just kinda happens, the way my body moves.”

The way Vasquez pitches, he has a strong exhale at the point in his sidearm delivery when he releases the ball.

You might have noticed the noise if you watched Vasquez pitch down the stretch last season at Comerica Park, either in person or on television. Rogers noticed it the first time he caught Vasquez last summer after the Tigers claimed him off waivers from the Phillies.

“I mean, it’s pretty noticeable,” Rogers said. “I think it’s similar to a grunt. I don’t know how he does it, to be honest with you. He just has his mouth a certain way when he’s full effort, and that’s what comes out. It’s pretty crazy.”

Vasquez can’t quite explain how it happens, but he has been doing it since his days at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.

“I’ve gone through phases where I tried to stop it,” he said, “and then I’m starting to think about it, when what’s really important is pitching. I’ve just gotta keep my focus there, so I let out some noise.”

Rogers had questions after he first heard it.

“It was like, ‘What are we doing? Never heard that before,’” Rogers said. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know how I do it.’ And then The Dragon was born.”

Actually, the nickname goes back well before Detroit. Vasquez spent the 2022 season bouncing between Triple-A and the Majors in three organizations, including the Phillies and Giants. Around that time, "House of the Dragon" was among the most popular shows on television. Somewhere along the line, teammates heard the noise, made a correlation and gave him the nickname.

“When I went back to Philadelphia, there were guys from the Giants in that clubhouse, and that’s when it really kind of took off,” Vasquez said.

The nickname has followed him around ever since, just like the reactions to the noise.

“Now we anticipate it,” Hinch said. “We’ve had him on our team, so we know. Now we can poke fun at him about it.”

Vasquez takes it in stride. There are far worse nicknames for a relief pitcher.

“At first I was a little unsure, and then I just had to embrace it,” Vasquez said. “Like the noise itself and the name, it’s just something I have to embrace and lean into a little bit.”

It’s a unique quirk for a unique pitcher. Just like the noise, few would expect a 6-foot-6 pitcher with his build to make a living throwing one slider after another from a sidearm angle to hitters. But when he’s on, he makes it work. Now back in Tigers camp as a non-roster invitee, the Tigers are working to make him better.

Over parts of five Major League seasons, Vasquez has thrown more sliders than fastballs. He threw sliders on 81.8 percent of his pitches last year between the Phillies and Tigers, according to Statcast. It’s a tough pitch for left-handed hitters when it works, with more vertical and horizonal movement than average. It was not as effective last year; opponents batted .247 with four home runs off his slider last year.

Even with that damage, Vasquez ranked in the top four percent of MLB pitchers for low average exit velocity and the top six percent for hard-hit rate. His 47.3 percent ground-ball rate ranked just outside the top quarter of pitchers.

There’s a lot to like. So the quest is to throw more sinkers to set up the slider, and throw more pitches in the strike zone.

“My stuff isn’t going to look like everybody else’s,” Vasquez said, “but how do I maximize what I bring to the table? Maybe not adding a high percentage of sinkers, but just more improving the quality of sinkers that I throw would lead to more success on the field.”

Said Hinch: “He’s going to steal strikes a little bit better with his fastball, because the league that loves data is going to see that he’s 70-80 percent sliders. So he’s still gotta do it with both pitches.”

If he can make it work, he has a chance. He’s a unique pitcher in the way he looks, and sounds.