Examining James Paxton’s home run spike

At least Paxton won’t have to face Judge anymore. (Jim McIsaac/Getty)Leaving Safeco Field T-Mobile Park (good luck getting used to that) to call the Bronx home will be a new challenge for James Paxton. Seattle is not an easy place to hit homers, much unlike Yankee Stadium. This is somewhat worrisome because Paxton had some issues with the long ball last season. Yet, home run prevention was once one of the southpaw’s strengths. He allowed only 0.7 homers per nine innings leading up to 2018, but suddenly permitted 1.3 per nine in 2018. Was it a blip? Hopefully. Maybe last year was just “one of those years”.

Even if he had some misfortune last season, Paxton inevitably will allow more homers as…