The day James Paxton made his big-league debut last September started with word that his grandfather Lawrie had died, and ended with his grieving family celebrating his first career win. In between those two emotional extremes came a lesson the Seattle Mariners left-hander from Ladner, B.C., continues to draw upon each time he takes the mound.
“I was going through that (sorrow) in the morning, and having to pitch my first big-league game at night, that was definitely a test, to be able to compartmentalize what’s going on in your life,” Paxton says in a recent interview. “I just feel like if I can bring my focus in a game like that with all that stuff going on outside the lines, it worked out for me.”
Things certainly worked out for him on the mound during that outing Sept. 7, when Paxton pushed aside his grief to pitch six innings in a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing just two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk. In four impressive September starts, he posted a 1.50 ERA over 24 innings.
And the 25-year-old has kept that momentum going so far this spring, with a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings over five starts. Paxton has been so strong that at this point he’s expected to break camp with a spot in the Mariners rotation, positioning him to become the next Canadian to establish himself as a major-leaguer.
“The biggest thing I realized in that month of September that I’m trying to bring with me into spring training is the amount of focus you have to bring,” he says. “I feel like I was really focused in September and was completely locked in on what I was trying to do, just really in a good head space out there on the mound. I’m trying to get back to that this spring training so I can take off from where I left off.”
Paxton is one of a few young Canadians poised to break through this year, with right-hander Jameson Taillon of the Pittsburgh Pirates (remember him from the World Baseball Classic last year?) and outfielder Oscar Taveras of the St. Louis Cardinals both considered close to being big-league ready.
They’d join an impressive cast of Canucks dotting rosters across the majors, headlined by Cincinnati Reds superstar Joey Votto, first baseman Justin Morneau now of the Colorado Rockies, catcher Russell Martin of the Pittsburgh Pirates and third baseman Brett Lawrie with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Morneau, dealt from the Minnesota Twins to Pittsburgh last summer before hitting free agency, isn’t the only Canadian on a new team. John Axford is now closing for the Cleveland Indians after being part of the Cardinals’ run to the World Series following his trade from Milwaukee, while Jesse Crain signed with the Houston Astros following a stint in Tampa Bay, which acquired him from the White Sox (a calf strain means he’ll open the season on the DL).
Jim Henderson remains the closer in Milwaukee, outfielder Michael Saunders is looking to benefit from Seattle’s addition of Robinson Cano, and George Kottaras is poised to do the backup catching work for the Chicago Cubs.
In limbo are left-hander Erik Bedard, who’s expected to opt out of his minor-league deal with the Rays; Scott Diamond, who won’t be part of Minnesota’s rotation; veteran lefty Jeff Francis, who’s in the mix for a spot with the Reds; reliever Phillippe Aumont, who’s fighting for a spot in the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen; and veteran starter Ryan Dempster, who won’t pitch this season and whose future beyond that is uncertain.
Gone from the big-leagues are left-hander Andrew Albers, who will pitch for the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea after completing his unlikely climb from the independent Quebec Capitales to the Twins last season; and Jason Bay and Chris Robinson, who both retired.
Paxton’s career, on the other hand, is just getting going.
His strong September came at the end of an uneven season at triple-A Tacoma, where he posted a 4.45 ERA in 28 games, 26 of them starts, with a WHIP of 1.483, which is why his solid spring has been so important.
The Mariners rotation has been in flux behind ace Felix Hernandez after Cy Young Award finalist Hisashi Iwakuma suffered a finger injury and top prospect Taijuan Walker arrived at camp with a sore shoulder. They needed someone to step up and their fourth-round pick in 2010 has done that.
Paxton’s progress will be intriguing for Blue Jays fans to watch, as the club drafted him 37th overall in 2009 but infamously failed to sign him in a negotiation that ended up impacting his status at the University of Kentucky.
The Mariners chose him in the next draft and got a deal done, while the Blue Jays used their compensatory pick for not signing Paxton on Noah Syndergaard, whom was subsequently sent to the New York Mets as part of the R.A. Dickey trade. There’s plenty of what-might-have-been to wonder about right there.
The keys for Paxton now are to retain the gain in command he managed through a minor adjustment in his delivery last season, and to maintain the same focus that enabled him to pitch so impressively on the day of his debut despite the sorrow of his grandfather’s death.
“That experience in the big-leagues, there are all kinds of fans, you’ve got other things distracting you, but I was really trying to focus on what was going on in front of me, and trying to focus on what was happening at that moment so I could bring all my attention to what mattered,” he says. “That was really good for me and was a great confidence builder coming into this (season), especially with the success that I had.”
