Mariners’ Paxton enters spring opener with pair of new pitches

Seattle Mariners lefty James Paxton will have some new wrinkles in his pitching arsenal Wednesday when he starts the Mariners’ spring opener against San Diego at the Peoria Sports Complex.

A new high fastball and a refined change-up.

Paxton honed both pitches last October and November under Class A Clinton pitching coach Rich Dorman while logging time in the Arizona Fall League after missing much of last season because of multiple finger injuries.

“He’s great. I had him in A-ball,” Paxton said, “and we were working on fastball location, a high fastball and my changeup.”

Paxton had no choice but to concentrate on those pitches because his recovery last autumn from a torn fingernail prevented him from breaking balls.

“I think it helped me a lot,” he said. “My fastball command, I think, got better over that time. My high fastball. And the change-up, it was my only off-speed pitch, so I had to throw it.

“Being forced to throw it made it that much better. It made me get comfortable with it. That was a big plus for me.”

Paxton is slotted for two innings Wednesday when the Mariners open their 33-game Cactus League schedule. It amounts to an opening statement in a bid to erase any lingering doubts regarding his durability and retain his spot in the rotation.

Manager Scott Servais recently questioned whether it was “realistic” to expect Paxton to hold up for an entire season. It’s easy to see why: Injuries limited Paxton to just 13 starts in each of the last two seasons.

But this is a new-look Paxton at age 27. He dropped 20 pounds in the offseason and contends he can already feel the difference through the spring’s early workouts.

“I feel like I came into camp ready to go,” he said. “Doing all of the drills, I feel much better. Better on my feet. Even just throwing the ball, I feel like I have less stress on everything with that, too. I think it’s just a plus all around.”

Paxton’s primary competitor for the rotation, right-hander Nathan Karns, is scheduled for two innings Thursday against the Padres. The competition is likely to continue throughout the spring.

Both pitchers have options remaining. The odd-man out goes to Triple-A Tacoma, but Paxton insisted he is focusing solely on his own preparation and performance.

Even so, having two new pitches can only aid his bid to keep his job.

“My change-up got way better (in the Fall League),” Paxton said, “and that high fastball changed everything. Guys were always looking down in the zone for me because I have that (12-to-6) angle.

“But when I change the angle, and have a high fastball, they can’t cheat down there all of the time. It makes it a lot harder for them. I’m looking forward to continuing to work on that in spring training.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Mariners’ Paxton enters spring opener with pair of new pitches."