James Paxton was the gem of the offseason for the Yankees, acquired from Seattle just weeks into the winter break. Now he faces his first opportunity to perform in the pinstripes, taking the mound in the second game of Opening Weekend on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles. As an ace-caliber pitcher, the pressure will be on to get out of the gate rolling, but Paxton has a strategy in mind that will be of great aid in starting the season in the win column.
In a recent piece in the New York Times, Paxton went into a small stat that he started following last year called A3P, or “after three pitches”, to track how often he got ahead in the count or got a batter out after throwing just three pitches.