Red Sox’s James Paxton Explains Goal With Boston This Season

Left-handed pitcher James Paxton is focused on getting back on track with the Boston Red Sox in 2023, plain and simple.

Paxton, 34, was two years removed from his last start before making his debut with the Red Sox this season, a year after signing with the team and being sidelined with Tommy John surgery. But back on the mound, Paxton's determined to flip the script.

"That's the game. We all know what happens when things like this happen," Paxton said, according to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. "I hope we can turn this thing around and get into a good position in the standings to make the postseason. That's the goal right now, to get on a hot streak and get this team where it wants to go. I'm just going to take things one day at a time, focus on doing my job here the best I can for this team and whatever happens, happens."

So far, Paxton's provided Boston and its pitching staff with a solid degree of consistency and reliability while the Red Sox continue to hover around the .500 mark 70 games into the campaign.

In six starts, Paxton has gone 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA, allowing 11 earned runs through 32 innings pitched, totaling 44 strikeouts. He's also gone five or more innings while striking out at least eight hitters in his last three outings with Boston. If that trend continues, he'll easily become one of the high-end arms of the staff for the rest of the season.

"Each day I'm going out there when I'm pitching and just giving it everything I got," Paxton explained, per Speier.