Zach Eflin threw two scoreless innings and struck out three Rays in his spring debut Thursday.

Eflin’s velocities today were up across the board from last year but especially so on his secondary pitches; his sweeper was up 1.5 mph from last year and his cutter was 1.8 mph better. That seems really promising in his first outing since back surgery. We weren’t looking at Eflin as a mixed-league guy this year, but if this holds up, he might help as an end-game pick,