Yankees’ James Paxton could miss way less time that expected after league shutdown

While no baseball fan wanted to hear that the MLB would be suspending the rest of Grapefruit League play and pushing back opening day, it could be a blessing in disguise for the New York Yankees who desperately need more time to heal. Sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton will gain a few extra days if not weeks in their recovery programs, giving them an opportunity to make a return before the start of the regular season.

As for starting pitcher James Paxton, he will likely miss the first few weeks of the season, but the number of games he will be absent for will be reduced significantly. The left-hander took a significant step forward this week, as he began throwing and playing catch since having a cyst removed from his lower back on February 5.

How did Yankees starter James Paxton look in his first workout?

Paxton made 25 throws from 60 feet away on Wednesday, finally giving his arm some action and getting back to the beautiful game of baseball, something we will all need in the coming weeks as the world deals with a pandemic.

“It was all great. My back didn’t hurt at all,” said Paxton, as per the NY Post. “Just working on getting my arm to feel normal again. I haven’t thrown in a long time. But that’ll come with playing catch.”

Paxton’s return is still projected to be in mid-May, which has been the estimated time of return since his surgery:

“Best case, middle of May is kind of what I’m hoping for as long as everything goes smoothly in this process.”

The impending free agent after the 2020 season has felt great recently, moving with no restrictions. Everything on Wednesday went perfectly, just as the starting pitcher had anticipated.