James Paxton Adds Another Milestone to Long List of Accolades

James Paxton is one of the most experienced starters in the league and is in the middle of his 12th season.

Paxton was traded to the Boston Red Sox from the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 26. It's Paxton's second stint in his career with the Red Sox.

Paxton got his first start of the season with Boston on Tuesday against another team he's had two stints with — the Seattle Mariners.

Paxton's outing wasn't the return to Fenway that he had probably hoped. The Mariners won 10-6 and Paxton absorbed the loss after giving up six runs (three earned) in 4.1 innings pitched.

Despite taking the loss — Paxton crossed a major career milestone on Tuesday. He had five strikeouts during his outing. His fourth was the 1,000th of his career according to a tweet from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Museum.

Congratulations to James Paxton on his 4 strikeouts so far tonight and therefore becoming the 7th Canadian born pitcher with 1000+ strikeouts in a career. @RedSox @Baseball_BC @baseballcanada @coopincanada pic.twitter.com/Lmw7ri1Aid
— Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum 🇨🇦⚾️ (@CDNBaseballHOF) July 31, 2024

Paxton was born in Lander, British Columbia, Canada and is just the seventh Canadian-born pitcher to have over 1,000 strikeouts in his career. Fergie Jenkins has the most (3,192), Ryan Dempster has the second most (2,075), Erik Badard checks in at third (1,246), Paxton's current Red Sox teammate Nick Pivetta has 1,079 (and counting), John Hiller has 1,036, Kirk McCaskill has 1,003 and Paxton currently has 1,001 (and counting).

Pivetta and Paxton are the only two active pitchers on that list.

Paxton has a 4.52 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 19 starts this season. He'll likely pass McCaskill and Hiller before the season is over. Depending how long he and Pivetta want to continue their careers — they will likely finish their careers with the third and fourth most strikeouts from a Canadian-born pitcher all-time.

James Paxton, Dirty Knuckle Curves. 😨 pic.twitter.com/BACu88c1nK
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 25, 2024

Boston is in the thick of the playoff race and hope Paxton can be consistent for them down the stretch.

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