When it was announced that New York Yankees starring pitcher would miss the first 3-4 months of the season with a lower-back injury, most were punished to the shady ways of negative expectations. Injuries were a significant factor in 2019 for the Yankees, as 30 different players spent 39 stints on the injured list.
For Paxton, he has been injury-prone his entire career, and this is another bump in the road he will be forced to overcome. Luckily, the Bombers have a stout starting rotation capable of supplementing the loss of one arm. However, the suspension to Domingo German doesn’t help their case. Once both Paxton and German return, the Yanks will feature a rotation that would intimidate the likes of the Dodgers.
What Yankees pitcher James Paxton had to say about his surgery:
A cyst was the discovered problem that forced the lefty pitcher to succumb to surgery. A so-called, Microscopic lumbar discectomy was the culprit, and according to doctors, his 3-4 month recovery timetable is the appropriate amount of time for him to return to major league play with a full bill of health.
“I wish I could have had it done in October,†Paxton said. “We just didn’t know exactly what was happening then. But I’d rather have it happen now than a full three months than midseason and miss a full three months of the season. This way I’ll hopefully only miss a month or so.â€
Getting the procedure done earlier than later gives the Yankees time to prepare without him and work through the beginning of the season. If they had waited, his timetable for recovery could have been longer, and it would have occurred during more tumultuous times.
“It’ll make a difference if I start throwing in four or six weeks because that’s an extra two weeks to build up so, we’ll just have to see how it goes,†said Paxton, who was 15-6 with a 3.82 ERA last season with 186 strikeouts over 150 2/3 innings.
Paxton stated that he feels good so far:
“I feel pretty good,†he said. “ I think I’m eight days out of surgery now. I’m moving around pretty well. I’m starting to test it out little by little each day. I’m going to be a process, but the process is going well.â€
The process will take a bit of time for Paxton, but the important part is that they identified the cyst, which had alleviated their initial screenings during the postseason.