http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110525&content...
The 22-year-old left-hander scuffled a bit and fell in an early hole before finding his groove. He allowed a one-out single in the second inning to Jeremy Cruz, who scored two batters later on Marcus Nideffer's triple to give the Kernels a 1-0 lead. "I was still trying to find my curveball a little bit," Paxton said. "I left a couple fastballs up in the zone and guys got to it.
"The RBI hit [by Nideffer] was a good piece of hitting. That was my former catcher at [the University of Kentucky], so I thought he had a pretty good idea what was coming. It was low in the zone, but he put a good swing on it."
Jesus Campos' leadoff double in the third, however, was Cedar Rapids' last hit off the native of British Columbia. Of the final 12 outs he recorded, 10 were strikeouts.
"The catcher [Steven Baron] and I were on the same page," Paxton said. "I was mixing the curve and change and keeping those guys guessing. The curveball was working real well; they couldn't get to it. The fastball was working well too. I was putting it in right location where they couldn't get any good wood on it."
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When he's got the touch, his curveball is outstanding. Outstanding. I actually love guys who throw 92-94 with their FB not being their best pitch. Especially lefties. See Bedard, Erik or Gonzalez, Gio. Gio's arsenal is actually fairly similar to Paxton's, though he likes to work up in the zone instead of down. I wouldn't complain at all about getting his results out of James, though.
Now, most A-ballers can't hit a plus breaking ball, so I want to see him against guys in AA who CAN so that we know just how good his command of that pitch is, but for now? All systems are go. Maurer's already left Clinton, and I don't think Paxton will be far behind - though they're talking about sending him to High Desert per Churchill's site, I believe he said.
Which I would find interesting...but he keeps the ball on the ground enough for that to work out as well. And if they can't hit it, they can't go for extra bases either.
~G
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