On this Rays team, at this moment, Zach Eflin has the look of an ace

ST. PETERSBURG — This is a day for aces. For Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson. For Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. For Spencer Strider and Corbin Burnes. Opening day is for pitchers who throw hard, win big and ruin batting averages.

So, tell me, is this a day for Zach Eflin?

He’s been in the big leagues for eight years, and his record is a smidge below .500. His career ERA is over 4.00 and his next All-Star appearance will be his first. His average fastball velocity last season (92.4 mph) put him in the bottom quartile of all major-league pitchers.

And in Tampa Bay, he is absolutely an ace.

Shane McClanahan is recovering from elbow surgery, and Tyler Glasnow was the Dodgers’ opening-day starter last week. Charlie Morton is in Atlanta, Blake Snell is in San Francisco and Tampa Bay’s rotation is in transition.

When the Rays were fresh out of arms by the end of last summer, Eflin was the guy who brought them to the brink of a 100-win season. The Rays went 23-8 in his starts, including winning all six of his final appearances. More than that, his was the soft, calming, upbeat voice that commanded attention in the clubhouse.

“The command is as good as anybody in baseball,” said baseball operations president Erik Neander. “There’s a lot of different things he can do to get the ball moving in each direction. He can elevate it, can hit corners. Can do a lot of things that are less common in the game today, perhaps, in terms of appreciating them.

“We had a lot of confidence he could pitch in the low 90s in an era when everyone is in the high 90s, could execute and locate and mix and really be an artist out there.”

The Rays had targeted Eflin in free agency after the 2022 season and moved quickly to sign him to a three-year, $40 million deal. Eflin, 29, had success during his seven seasons in Philadelphia but had a reputation for being injury-prone. He missed more than 300 games with 10 different stints on the injured list with the Phillies.

Almost all of those injuries, however, were due to knee and back issues. His arm was mostly pristine, and Neander said the Rays’ medical staff played a huge role in determining Eflin’s most healthy days were likely ahead of him.

The result?

He led the American League in wins with 16, threw a career-high 177 innings and had an absurdly low walk rate with 1.2 per nine innings. It was a breakout season that literally rescued a rotation that was without Glasnow for the first two months and eventually lost three starters to elbow injuries.

“It was pretty impressive how consistent he performed and how consistent he was personality-wise. It was pretty amazing,” manager Kevin Cash said. “His understanding and ability to know when he was needed to step up on the mound and when he was needed to step up in the clubhouse. He really took ownership of that clubhouse, and that’s not an easy thing to do for a guy who contributes every five days. It’s a more natural fit for a position player, but Zach really led our clubhouse.”

For a guy with a half-dozen pitches in his repertoire, Eflin was also receptive to tweaks in his pitch usage. Pitching coach Kyle Snyder suggested adding a sweeper as a complement to his traditional curveball, which gave Eflin two pitches that looked identical coming out of his hand but broke in different ways. Eflin threw fewer fastballs and sinkers but more breaking pitches that resulted in one of the best chase rates in MLB.

“I was pretty anti-analytics before I got here. Signing my contract, I felt a little obligated to start learning some of that,” Eflin said. “I have a lot of feel for the baseball, so being able to match that feel up with what Snyder and (pitching strategist) Bobby Kinne have been saying about what shapes I’m looking for as opposed to actual spin rates, it’s been a fun process to feel that ball in my hand and correlate that to what they were saying.”

Does Eflin throw as hard as McClanahan, Glasnow or Snell? No. Will he average more than a strikeout per inning? Just barely.

But the Rays have no qualms about putting the ball in his hand against the Blue Jays on opening day.

“He’s a pro, he’s going to go about his job whether he’s No. 1 or No. 5 in the rotation,” Snyder said. “I get the stark difference between him last year and this year in terms of where our rotation stood and where he fell into that. But, let’s face it, he was our most consistent pitcher last year. He was sixth in Cy Young votes.

“He is an ace. He is going to be in the first game for us, and he is more than deserving.”

So there’s no hesitation in calling Eflin an ace?

“No way,” Snyder said. “He’s an ace. He threw 180 innings last year.

“He’s somebody that takes the ball and gives you a chance to win every time he’s on the mound.”

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