Kentucky’s Paxton hopes for last hurrah

There’s always risk when a player returns to college for another season after getting drafted in the higher rounds.

Some players blossom upon their return for another campaign. In other instances, players fade from the spotlight and watch their draft stocks plummet.

Well aware that both scenarios could play out next summer, Kentucky senior pitcher James Paxton accepted his potential fate this past summer when he turned down Toronto after getting drafted in the first round as the 37th overall pick.

A little more than two months after making that decision, Paxton has no regrets. In fact, he’s bound and determined to lead the Wildcats back to an NCAA regional and possibly a College World Series appearance in 2010.

“I expected that I was going to get drafted fairly high, and I wanted to see what the Blue Jays had to offer, but at the end of the day I thought it would be wise to go to back to college for another season,” Paxton said. “I still feel like I have a lot to improve on when it comes to my game.”

A healthy James Paxton in the spring would be huge for talented Kentucky.

(Kentucky)

True as it may be that Paxton still has parts of his game that could use some tweaking, observers only have seen part of what the talented left-handed pitcher is capable of putting together for an entire season.

As a young freshman in ’07, Paxton made 25 appearances and compiled an unimpressive 6.62 ERA. But as a sophomore, Paxton put his name on the map by going 4-2 with a 2.92 ERA.

Following his ’08 campaign, Paxton embarked on a rigorous workout routine in the offseason that netted a weight gain of 15 pounds of muscle. Between his sophomore accomplishment and offseason improvements, many SEC coaches felt Paxton was ready to become one of the nation’s best aces in ’09.

Paxton’s junior campaign didn’t exactly work out that way. He started the season on the right foot and tossed absolute gems against LSU and Vanderbilt. Against the Tigers, he struck out 15 batters and allowed just three runs in six innings. The next week against Vanderbilt, Paxton allowed just a run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings.

That was the last time Paxton was healthy. The next weekend against South Carolina, the lefty went just two innings. He allowed nine runs.

But there was a reason for the poor start against the Gamecocks. Coach Gary Henderson realized Paxton had an issue with his knee, which resulted in surgery this fall.

“I don’t think the knee was a factor in the draft stuff, but I do believe the knee certainly affected the way he pitched all of last season,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t take a whole lot to not be at your best, so a knee issue certainly would hold you back.”

Paxton has made some progress since the minor surgery. He still hasn’t thrown in a live scrimmage, but is moving around and back to throwing bullpens. There have been some other issues, however. In addition to the surgery, Paxton also came down with mononucleosis and was out of commission for a while.

“Yeah, he had mono, but it probably couldn’t have come at a better time considering he wasn’t going to pitch much this fall,” Henderson said. “One thing we don’t want to do, though, is overplay the knee issue. The doctors thought the surgery and recovery would be an absolute breeze. We expect him to be 100 percent in the spring.”

Paxton’s improved health could be bad news for opposing teams. But for now, the lefty is dedicated to improving his game between now and spring. Sure, he has the velocity and stuff to get most hitters out. But there still are improvements that need to happen if he wants to be an All-American pitcher, including fastball command, consistency of his curveball and mixing in the changeup more often.

“It would help if he was just more efficient with the fastball and perhaps learn how to use both sides of the plate a bit more,” Henderson said. “I also believe he needs to use his changeup earlier in the count come the spring.”

While rehabbing his knee and plotting his next move for spring, Paxton has turned his attention to another role within the team: He has become an outstanding leader.

“He has absolutely changed his role with the club in a huge way. He’s in a completely different place than he was a year ago,” Henderson said. “He’s more involved in the improvement of other players on the team, and he has been a great leader.”

It’s been quite a year for Paxton – from preseason headlines to mid-season injury, to passing up the draft, surgery, mono and now, big-time team leader. He hopes ’10 will be infinitely better, however, and with a much happier ending.

Pro organizations will again be watching.