Boxberger excelled in his 2017 debut, striking out the side in his only inning of work in Friday's 6-4 extra-inning win over the Orioles.
The veteran reliever couldn't have dialed up a better performance for his first appearance of 2017, firing 10 of his 13 pitches for strikes while mowing down Ruben Tejeda, Joey Rickard and Seth Smith. If Boxberger can provide something close to this caliber of effort on a regular basis, it will naturally go a long way toward stabilizing what has at times been a shaky seventh-and-eighth-inning bullpen situation for the Rays. Furthermore, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility for the former closer to see some save chances on days when Alex Colome is unavailable.