Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees right-handed pitching prospect Randy Vasquez will make his MLB debut on Friday against the San Diego Padres. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch had the story first.

Vasquez is 24 and the No. 12 prospect in the Yankees’ system. The Yankees signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 2018 and 2023 marks his first year at Triple-A Scranton. He’s gone 1-5 with a 4.85 ERA in nine starts, largely due to a problem with walks. Vasquez has issued nearly five walks per nine innings (BB/9) this year compared to 10.5 strikeouts per nine (K/9).

But Randy Vasquez has recently been on a hot streak. He’s posted a 2.14 ERA in his last four starts and hasn’t pitched since May 17. The Yankees are down a man with Domingo German still on suspension and Wednesday’s bullpen meltdown against the Orioles makes an opener risky.

Enter Vasquez, who reportedly has a great 12-6 curveball but an inconsistent fastball. It has 100 mph potential, but usually settles between 93-95 if he isn’t reaching back. Vasquez is also developing a slider as his third pitch.

The young righty will face quite the first test in the Padres, whose active offseason hasn’t yielded its desired results. San Diego is fourth in the NL West and eight games behind their rival Dodgers. Their team batting average is .223, dead last in the majors.

Adding injury to insult, the Padres are also without star third baseman Manny Machado. He’s on the injured list with a broken hand.

And even so, Randy Vasquez may still have his hands full. The Padres still have known Yankees nemesis and former Red Sox standout Xander Bogaerts. Juan Soto’s powerful lefty swing could wreak havoc in Yankee Stadium. The Padres still rank 15th in home runs despite their lineup’s struggles, and their pitching ranks tenth with a 3.93 ERA.

Vasquez has a powerful Yankees team backing him up, but he’ll need his best stuff working on Friday.

Josh Benjamin has been a staff writer at ESNY since 2018. He has had opinions about everything, especially the Yankees and Knicks. He co-hosts the “Bleacher Creatures” podcast and is always looking for new pieces of sports history to uncover, usually with a Yankee Tavern chicken parm sub in hand.