James Paxton and the Los Angeles Dodgers played their final exhibition game of the preseason on Tuesday, which means that it is time for the Major League Baseball regular season to make its return once again.
Paxton’s start against the Los Angeles Angels was just his second start of the spring and was a bit of a mixed bag. He battled through the first couple innings, but settled into a groove later in the game. Paxton allowed three runs in the first two innings, but shutout the Angels offense the rest of the way during his final three frames.
While the results could have been better, Paxton believes the extra adrenaline players get during the season will help him pitch more effectively, as seen on SportsNetLA:
“I’d like to have executed pitches a little better, but I feel ready for the season to start. I think the extra adrenaline you get during the season will help, for sure.”
His final line of three earned runs in five innings doesn’t stand out as overly impressive, but that is the kind of start that you expect from a back-end starter. If Paxton can go out every fifth day and give the Dodgers a quality start, six innings while allowing three runs or fewer, he would provide tons of value for the club.
In future starts, he should be able to pitch deeper into games considering that he had to work a little harder than he should have due to some poor defense behind him and the fact he was working on a pitch count.
Paxton is expected to open the year as the Dodgers’ fifth starter when the regular season re-opens, which sets him up to make his first start against the San Francisco Giants in the first game of their series.
James Paxton expected to be rotation mainstay
Paxton is going to be relied upon heavily as a rotation for the Dodgers during the 2024 season with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Dustin May, and Emmet Sheehan all starting the season on the injured list.
Kershaw and May in particular are all rehabbing significant injuries and aren’t expected to make contributions to the Major League roster until the back half of the season.
Sheehan has been dealing with right forearm inflammation since his first bullpen of the spring. He isn’t expected to be back anytime soon, but he should be the first of many rotation reinforcements to arrive.
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