Seattle Mariners place pitcher James Paxton on 15-day disabled list
By Brad Rowland
Seattle Mariners left-hander James Paxton has been a revelation during his short time in the Major Leagues, but unfortunately, his fantastic run on the mound has been cut short (for now) with a trip to the 15-day disabled list.
Mariners recalling Lucas Luetge as Paxton going on 15-day DL wtih strained lat.
— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) April 9, 2014
Paxton left his second start early as a result of the newly diagnosed strained lat muscle, but prior to the exit, the 25-year-old threw 12 innings with a sparkling 2.25 ERA this season, and when you couple that with his fine work down the stretch of 2013, his career numbers are quite impressive with a 1.75 ERA, 8.50 K/9 and 2.25 BB/9 over 36 innings (6 starts) in the Majors.
The jury is still out on whether Paxton is this good at the Major League level, but the Mariners thought highly of him coming out of Spring Training to the point where they anointed him with a rotation spot, and that is a positive sign. The young lefty is only expected to miss 3-4 weeks with this injury, and if all goes well, Seattle should expect to see him back at peak form sometime in the middle of May. Until then, Mariners fans will be treated to a large helping of Chris Young and potentially Lucas Luetge (as noted above) on the mound.