Ladner’s James Paxton is calling it a career.
After 11 Major League Baseball seasons, the left-hander, who is currently with the Boston Red Sox, plans to retire at the end of the 2024 season.
Speaking Wednesday with WEEI reporter Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast Paxton made his decision public.
Paxton has been on the injury list with the Red Sox since Aug. 11 when he left a start against the Houston Astros in the first inning with a strained right calf.
“I’m hoping that we can squeak into the post-season, and I can get the opportunity to pitch again,” Paxton told Bradford. “But I think after this season, I’m gonna be retiring and moving onto the next chapter.”
The Red Sox are currently four games out of a wild card playoff spot. They begin a four-game weekend series today (Sept. 12) in New York against the Yankees.
The 35-year-old signed in the off-season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and posted a 9-3 record and 4.40 ERA with the Dodgers and Red Sox.
In late July he was traded by the Dodgers to Boston for a minor league prospect.
“It’s tough. Obviously, I can still do it. I can still go out there and compete and help the team win,” Paxton said about the decision. “I just think with where my family is at and what they need right now, they need me home. I feel the duty and responsibility to being at home with my family, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with them.”
Since his debut in 2013, Paxton has pitched in 177 career games with the Seattle Mariners, Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox.
He was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of 2009 MLA draft but could not come to terms on a contract with the Jays.
He ended up re-entering the draft in 2010, where he was selected by Seattle.
His biggest career milestone came on May 8, 2018, when he completed only the second no-hitter by a Canadian born pitcher in a 5-0 Seattle win in Toronto. He is the first and only Canadian so far to throw a no-hitter on Canadian soil.
