James Paxton

James Alston Paxton (born November 6, 1988), nicknamed "Big Maple", is a Canadian professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox.

Paxton played college baseball for the Kentucky Wildcats.

He played for the North Delta Blue Jays of the British Columbia Premier Baseball League (PBL) and for Team Canada at the Junior National level, earning a bronze medal at the 2006 World Junior Baseball Championship in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.

In his junior year, Paxton won 10 games and had a 1.51 earned run average (ERA) to go along with 100 strikeouts in 78 innings pitched.

This led to him being named the top pitcher of the PBL and a first-team All-Star.

After starting his senior year injured, Paxton finished the year with a 7–1 win–loss record and 65 strikeouts and 32 walks in 50 innings pitched.

Both years Paxton's team won the league title and the B.C.'s Best Tournament.

After graduating from high school in 2006, Paxton attended the University of Kentucky, where he played college baseball for the Kentucky Wildcats baseball team in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

As a freshman, he led the Wildcats in appearances with 25 and had a 2–0 record in relief with one save.

In 2008 as a sophomore, Paxton worked his way into the starting rotation midway through the season and earned 11 starts while making 17 appearances.

He finished the year 4–2 with a 2.92 ERA.

That same year he pitched a complete-game shutout over Ole Miss to clinch a spot in the SEC Tournament and earn SEC Pitcher of the Week honors.

However, he did not participate in the NCAA Tournament due to injury.

That summer Paxton was invited to play collegiate summer baseball in the Alaska Baseball League where he pitched in four games with three starts, finishing with a 1–0 record and a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings.

He struck out 12 batters and allowed opponents to hit just .179 against him.

Paxton started 13 games in 2009, finishing 5–3 with 115 strikeouts (5th best in school history) in 78 1⁄3 innings.

He drew the attention of Major League Baseball scouts as he was considered a possible first-round draft pick.

Paxton was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll every year he was at Kentucky.

He held a 3.3 GPA heading into his senior year as an accounting major.

Paxton was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round (37th overall) of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

However, negotiations with the Blue Jays broke down over a dispute about his signing bonus and he did not sign by the deadline.

Paxton had intended to return to Kentucky for his senior season, however the Blue Jays president Paul Beeston had told the press that he had been negotiating with agent Scott Boras instead of Paxton's family, which violated the NCAA rules and Paxton was subsequently ruled ineligible after an investigation.

He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB draft by the Mariners and made his MLB debut for them in 2013.

He sued the NCAA in an attempt to be reinstated, but he lost the lawsuit in January 2010 and withdrew from school one semester shy of graduation.

After being ruled ineligible to return to Kentucky, Paxton signed with the Grand Prairie AirHogs in the independent American Association in 2010.

There, he went 1–2 with a 4.08 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 17 2⁄3 innings.

The Seattle Mariners selected Paxton in the fourth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft but due to a lengthy negotiation, did not sign with the Mariners until March 4, 2011 for a $942,500 signing bonus.

He began his professional career in 2011 with the Clinton LumberKings of the Class-A Midwest League, before earning a June promotion to the Double A Jackson Generals of the Southern League.

He finished with a combined 6–3 win–loss record, 2.37 ERA, 131 strikeouts, and 43 walks in 95 innings pitched, while allowing an opposing batting average of .215 in 17 games.

Paxton, along with Alex Liddi, represented the Mariners at the 2011 All-Star Futures Game.

Paxton was invited to attend the Mariners' main spring training camp in 2012, but did not make the opening day roster and returned to Jackson, where he made 21 starts with a 9–4 record and 3.64 ERA.

He played for the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League after the minor league season ended.

For 2013, Paxton was promoted to the Tacoma Rainiers of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, where he made 26 starts and was 8–11 with a 4.45 ERA.

He worked with the coaching staff to change his pitching mechanics to mirror that of Clayton Kershaw, resulting in an improvement in his performance.

On September 3, 2013, Paxton was promoted to the major leagues for the first time and debuted on September 7 when he started against the Tampa Bay Rays.

He allowed two runs on four hits and one walk in six innings to earn the win.

On May 8, 2018, Paxton pitched a no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first Canadian major league pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Canada.

Following the 2018 season, Paxton was traded to the Yankees.

Paxton attended Delta Secondary School in Ladner, British Columbia.