LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – After spending seven years in the minor leagues without a sniff of the majors, Luis Vasquez doesn't intend to let a recently strained side or back muscle affect his bid for a spot in the Braves' bullpen. Not when the sidearmer finally has a legitimate chance to make a big-league team.
“It’s nothing big,” said Vasquez, who strained a muscle – it’s thought to be a latissimus dorsi muscle — while pitching in a playoff game in late January in the Dominican Republic winter league. “I felt something and stopped…. Right now I don’t feel nothing. But I have to wait to see the doctor before I can start throwing.”
He hasn’t been examined yet by a Braves physician because he only reported to camp Monday, five days late due to problems getting his visa in the Dominican. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Vasquez could be cleared to join workouts as soon as Tuesday if the doctor gives him a clean bill of health.
As eager as Gonzalez and Braves officials are to see him, they want want to make sure he’s OK before he throws. They think this former Dodgers prospect, whose career stock ascended after he became a sidearmer two years ago, has a chance to join a bullpen that’s been among the majors’ best for several years and keeps plugging in two or three new arms each season.
“Absolutely,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said, when asked if Gonzalez has an opportunity to make the team. “What we saw in winter ball – he was the most talked-about pitcher down there.”
The Braves signed him as a minor league free agent after scouting him early in the Dominican Winter League. He went on to post a 1.56 ERA and .086 opponents’ average in 22 relief appearances, with 19 strikeouts and three walks in 17-1/3 innings. Other teams approached him only to learn he’d already signed with the Braves.
