Analysis: The outing was Baz's spring debut, and he threw 50 pitches -- 33 of which went for strikes. His velocity was also excellent, as he hit 100.6 mph with his first pitch of the game, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Baz will presumably be in the big-league rotation to begin the season, though Topkin did note the team has not committed to its five starters at this point in spring.

Analysis: Baz was limited to 14 starts with Tampa Bay in 2024 after spending the early part of the season completing his recovery from September 2022 Tommy John surgery as well as an oblique injury that cropped up during spring training. Once he joined the big-league rotation in early July, Baz struggled to regain his pre-surgery velocity but achieved strong results nonetheless, posting a 3.06 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 79.1 innings. Though Baz needed a .229 BABIP and a 9.6 HR/FB% to achieve the shiny ERA, now that he's further removed from elbow surgery, there's reason to hope that the 25-year-old can improve upon his 21.6 K% to help stave off the ERA correction that might otherwise be headed his way in 2025.