Joe

Boyle

Boyle struck out four and walked none, throwing 52 of his 75 pitches for strikes. It’s just the second time in 23 starts as a major leaguer that Boyle has gone without a walk. As tough as he is to hit, Boyle would likely be a useful mixed-league SP with a league-average walk rate. That’s probably still too much to ask for at this point, and he might be bumped from the rotation when Pepiot returns from the IL. Still, he’s one to keep an eye on.

Boyle will get a shot in Tampa Bay’s season-opening rotation with Ryan Pepiot (hip) unexpectedly requiring a trip to the injured list. The 26-year-old’s omnipresent control issues led to an inflated 4.67 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 58/28 K/BB ratio across 52 innings for the Rays last year. He misses enough bats to be interesting for fantasy purposes but he’s far too risky to trust in shallow mixed leagues right away. He’ll take the ball on Saturday against the Cardinals to open the year.

The move is now official. Pepiot’s unexpected season-opening trip to the injured list creates an opportunity for effectively wild poster candidate Joe Boyle to enter Tampa Bay’s rotation. The 28-year-old righty isn’t expected to require an extended absence, but fantasy managers should anticipate him missing at least a few weeks given the nature of the injury. It’s unlikely the Rays will rush him back and risk any setbacks.

Boyle had been optioned to Triple-A on Friday, but with the news that Ryan Pepiot will land on the injured list with hip inflammation, Boyle is back up. He will start game two against the Cardinals, with Nick Martinez starting game four against the Brewers. Boyle is a high-risk fantasy option, but the Cardinals figure to be one of the worst offenses in baseball, so he may not be a bad option if you want to stream for strikeouts and a win.

Well, this comes out of nowhere. Pepiot threw five shutout innings in his last start and just posted a 0.90 ERA in spring training. The Rays have suggested they don’t expect Pepiot to be out long, which means Joe Boyle will begin the season in the Rays’ rotation and start game two against the Cardinals. Ian Seymour will likely serve as his piggyback if Boyle is unable to go deep into games due to command issues.

Boyle has shown the ability to miss bats with electric stuff, but he’s also shown he rarely has any idea where his arsenal will end up, so he won’t make the Opening Day roster. Both Malloy and Palacios figure to be up-and-down for Tampa Bay as bench options.

The 26-year-old hurler allowed two runs on four hits and a pair of walks in the contest. All of the damage done against him came in the second inning as Trent Grisham smacked a two-run single. Boyle piled up 13 swings and misses on 68 pitches in the ballgame — eight of them on his fastball which averaged 97.9 mph (-0.6 mph) — while posting a CSW of 29 percent. Boyle still appears to be on the outside looking in for a spot in the Rays’ Opening Day rotation but he holds significant strikeout upside once he does get that opportunity.

Boyle got the weaker split-squad, as Royce Lewis was the only regular the Twins brought with them today. Still, that Boyle went without a walk was nice. He allowed one hit and struck out two. As a result of the Nick Martinez signing, it will probably take an injury to open up a spot for either Boyle or Ian Seymour in the Rays rotation.

The Rays definitely aren’t giving Martinez that kind of money to pitch out of the pen, so assuming that everyone stays healthy, there won’t be any room in the rotation for Joe Boyle or Ian Seymour on Opening Day. Of course, it’d hardly be a surprise if someone went down. Martinez might have some fantasy potential pitching in a situation as good as Tampa Bay’s (now that the team is returning to the Trop). He had a 4.45 ERA for the Reds last season, but he should improve on that and make a contribution in WHIP.

If spring training started today, the Rays would have Joe Boyle, Ian Seymour, Jesse Scholtens and Joe Rock vying for one rotation spot behind Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz. The Rays, though, apparently would prefer to have another Zack Littell-type pitcher around to add to their depth. If that works out, it’d probably take an injury to someone to avoid a return to Triple-A for Boyle, Seymour and the rest.