TAMPA -- Joe Boyle has the pitches to be a bona fide ace. That has never been in question.
Sustained success at the Major League level for the 25-year-old right-hander has generally boiled down to this: Can he command those pitches?
Boyle was in full command in his season debut on Sunday against the Braves. He didn¡¯t allow a hit over five-plus innings while consistently pounding the strike zone in the Rays¡¯ 8-3 win at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Boyle¡¯s near-100 mph fastball mixed with his hard slider and splinker to keep the Braves off-balance all afternoon long. He tallied seven strikeouts, walked only two batters and didn¡¯t allow a baserunner until walking Ozzie Albies with one out in the fifth.
¡°It does not look like it's very comfortable for the opposition up there,¡± Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
¡°I saw [Boyle¡¯s] numbers from Triple-A, and he was kind of a high-walk guy,¡± Braves manager Brian Snitker said. ¡°But he wasn't today. He was on."
Snitker is right on both counts. Boyle had issued six walks across eight innings at Triple-A Durham this year, and his 17.7 percent walk rate last season with the A¡¯s was the highest of any pitcher who faced at least 200 batters.
But on Sunday, he peppered the zone from the beginning. Boyle struck out the first two batters he faced on three pitches. He got Michael Harris II to whiff on a 93.4 mph splinker below the zone before firing a 99.5 mph fastball by Austin Riley. That was Boyle¡¯s fastest pitch of the day. His "slowest" four-seam clocked in at 96.2 mph.
By the end of the fourth inning, Boyle had thrown 33 of his 47 pitches for strikes, his three-pitch mix had created six K¡¯s and he had limited the Braves to only two hard-hit balls.
¡°Getting ahead of guys, throwing my stuff in the zone, competing with my best stuff and sticking to my strengths is obviously really important to me,¡± Boyle said. ¡°I'm glad I was able to do that to start the game.¡±
The Rays acquired Boyle in December as part of the five-player trade that sent Jeffrey Springs to the Athletics. The club was wowed by Boyle¡¯s stuff throughout Spring Training, and it became more impressed with his improved ability to throw strikes. The Rays also helped Boyle simplify his arsenal, ditching his curveball and sweeper and adding a splinker to go along with his heater and 90 mph slider.
That splinker, which averaged 93 mph against Atlanta, drew four whiffs on six swings.
¡°He's a stud,¡± Rays catcher Danny Jansen said of his battery mate. ¡°For his caliber of pitches and for what he provides, it's just about getting ahead, really.¡±
Boyle exited the game after hitting Nick Allen with a pitch to begin the sixth inning and following that up with a walk to Eli White. Although the no-no was still intact, Cash knew he had gotten just about everything he could have asked for from a pitcher making a spot start in his season debut.
When Boyle handed the ball to his manager after 74 pitches, he became the seventh Rays starter in franchise history -- and the first since Springs in 2023 -- to post a hitless outing of at least five innings long. The Braves¡¯ first hit came later in the sixth, a Matt Olson RBI single off of reliever Mason Montgomery.
¡°It was pretty dominant stuff early on,¡± Cash said, ¡°and [Boyle] just maintained through his five-plus innings of work.¡±
Boyle was also the beneficiary of some stellar Rays defense, including Junior Caminero¡¯s snag and throw on an infield hopper to take a hit away from White in the third inning. Caminero bashed his second homer in as many days -- a three-run dinger in the bottom of the sixth -- that broke the game open and helped propel Tampa Bay to its third win in its past five games.
¡°I was really impressed today,¡± Caminero said of Boyle, via team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. ¡°He impressed me also when we were in Spring Training. God blessed him. He can throw the ball.¡±