Big Maple will throw out the ceremonial first pitch against the Blue Jays, the team that could have had him
Of all the improbable things about James Paxton’s career in Seattle, maybe the most salient one is this: it almost didn’t happen.
As a junior at the University of Kentucky in 2009, the Canadian-born Paxton was drafted by the Blue Jays as a supplemental first-rounder, but talks broke down and Paxton opted not to sign, something he describes as disappointing.
“When I got drafted by the Blue Jays, there was definitely excitement about getting drafted by the only Canadian team. I had a lot of family and friends who were really excited about it. I fully intended to sign with them.”
But the Blue Jays, according to Paxton, went back on what they had initially offered, seemingly lowballing him and leaving a sour taste in Paxton’s mouth around the business of baseball. That offered the Mariners a chance to snag the large lefty from Ladner in the fourth round in 2011, a sliding-doors moment that could have worked out differently for both Paxton and the fanbase that embraced him.
“I do believe that things happen for a reason,” said Paxton. “We’re all on our own paths. I’m just trying to piece it all together. I’m definitely grateful for my path, and I was really happy that I got to be a Mariner and spend the first part of my career in Seattle. Being so close to family was really special for me, having friends and family come down to those games, it would have been a lot different if I was in Toronto. So that was really special for me, to be able to be so close to home and to my friends and family.”
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As happy as Paxton was to have landed in Seattle, the fanbase was equally glad to have him. After the peak of King Félix but well before the All Star-loaded pitching rotation Mariners fans have come to enjoy, Paxton stood out as the Mariners’ ace, sparking a fan-driven cheering section called The Maple Grove.
The Maple Grove evolved due in large part to longtime Mariners fan Daniel Carroll’s frustration with Western Canada-based Blue Jays fans taking over the park every home series against Toronto. Carroll rallied fellow fans to come to games as a form of pushback, including cheeky signs poking gentle fun at the visiting Canadian hordes. From there, the dedicated group of fans evolved into the Maple Grove, showing up at every Paxton home start with a rotating cast of hand-inked signs by Carroll and professionally produced ones by fellow fan and graphic designer Hillary Kirby, who created the Eh! card that fans chanted with on every two-strike count (a Canadian spin on the K! strikeout chant fans would do for Félix Hernández’s starts; a copy now resides in Cooperstown).
“I can’t remember exactly the first time that I noticed the Maple Grove out there,” said Paxton. “I think it was probably sometime when I started hearing the ‘Eh’ chants, and then I remember they started making the signs, and had the ‘Eh’ signs, and I thought it was so cool because I’d watched over my first couple years how they had the King’s Court and the K signs and stuff. I was like, man, this is so awesome. It was really fun to hear everyone chanting. It got me excited.”
“I remember walking out to throw my pregame bullpens and they’d yell down at me and I’d give a little wave, then go throw my pregame bullpen to get ready. Just knowing they were there, and having that fan support, was really fun for me.”
Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
As a section supporting a particular starting pitcher, the Maple Grove might have taken inspiration from the King’s Court, but the Maple Grove was unique in that it was organic, fan-lead, and designed to be accessible to all. The section was located in lower-priced bleacher seats, with placards designed—and produced and paid for—by the fans themselves. Kirby designed t-shirts for the group to wear. Others brought their own homemade signs or Canadian-influenced snacks like Timbits or maple-flavored treats, but the cost of admittance to the section was no more than the face value of a ticket to the left field bleachers. The Mariners, for their part, provided a potted maple with a cutout of James Paxton’s face nestled in its branches that the group named “Stick Rizzs” in honor of the team’s longtime announcer Rick Rizzs.
One outing that Paxton definitely does remember and lists as among his favorites: his career-high 16 strikeout game, a May home game in 2018 against the Athletics.
“I remember the Maple Grove out there going nuts with the Eh chants. I know they had a lot of fun with that one; I saw the videos of them up there and it looked like a rowdy time. That was a lot of fun for me.”
To this day, Paxton isn’t sure exactly why the Mariners fanbase picked him as a favorite son, although he has some theories.
“I think they liked that I was just about my business. I’d go out there, I wasn’t very flashy, but I was nice to people—I guess people would say ‘Canadian nice’—but I always enjoyed talking to fans and signing autographs and stuff. The people always treated me really well and I feel like I treated them well.”
“That’s always been my personality. I just really enjoyed the work. I enjoyed going out there and competing. And I was very serious about it, like I really wanted to win, I wanted to be good. I think the fans appreciated that. Through all my injuries, I felt very supported—you know, I had a lot of injuries in my career, a lot of injuries in Seattle—and I remember every time I came back, the fans were very supportive. I never felt like they got on me too much for my injuries, I feel like they knew I was giving it everything I had and was trying to get back with everything I had, all of my energy, and I hated being hurt as much as they hated seeing me hurt.”
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Unfortunately, those injuries took a toll on Paxton’s career, in Seattle and beyond it, and he retired this past November, at the end of the 2024 season. These days, Paxton is focused on being a husband and dad, navigating life after baseball.
“It’s weird. It’s been hard, because I feel like baseball is such a huge part of my identity—I’ve been playing since I was six years old—so it’s really all I know. Now I feel like I’m trying to learn myself again. What do I like to do? What am I, other than a dad and husband? So I’m working through that, and trying to figure out what I want to do next.”
One area of interest—that just so happens to dovetail with a specialty in the Mariners organization—is in mental skills. Paxton speaks at length about the topic on the podcast Athlete Complete, which he co-hosts with performance coach Sean McCormick along with other Seattle sports figures like former Sounders Brad Evans and Ben Dragavon.
“The mental side of the game was such an interest for me. It really helped my career, and allowed me to be who I was as a pitcher, and now I want to impart my wisdom on the young pitchers of the game and maybe help them on the mental side of the game.”
“Early in my career, I had the stuff, and I was able to get away with things because I was so talented. And then in ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, I was able to piece it together, and I had the physical and the mental part of the game, and those were my best years. Then I got hurt and I came back and I didn’t have the same stuff anymore, but I was still able to find success because of what I had mentally. It showed me what an important piece that is. You don’t have to be the most talented to get results and be successful on the mound, if you have the right mental approach to the game.”
On the Athlete Complete podcast, Paxton and his co-hosts dive deep into the struggles along with the triumphs that come with being a professional athlete, opening up and being vulnerable in a way that’s not always synonymous with male-dominated sports spaces.
“You don’t get a lot of that in sports, in baseball. It’s not something that’s really talked about in locker rooms, but I know that everybody struggles with it. And it’s a huge part of the game, performance-wise too. Guys are struggling, don’t talk about it, that’s going to weigh on you and make it hard to do your job. I think opening that up to guys and giving them a place to talk about it and encouraging people to deal with the mental side of the game and their mental health is only going to help organizations and teams produce on-field, as well.”
“Being vulnerable is such a hard thing for men to do. There’s such a stigma around it. It’s kind of seen as weakness, but really it’s the opposite. And we’re hoping to change that going forward.”
Perhaps Paxton could address Seattle’s cadre of young pitchers—although as he notes, they seem to be doing pretty well on the mound.
“The talent they’ve got on that team right now is unbelievable,” said Paxton, who says he’s been keeping “loose tabs” on the team. “It’s an incredibly talented pitching staff. It’s such a good staff, and I hope [the team] can put it together because this fanbase deserves the playoffs. They deserve a World Series championship at some point. And it takes this kind of staff to do that sort of thing.”
The Mariners are honoring Paxton on Saturday, May 10 with a special section bringing together Maple Grovers past and present. Paxton will be in attendance and will throw out the first pitch at the game, which happens to be against the Blue Jays: the team which could have drafted him, and instead saw him throw a no-hitter against them. (No word on whether or not there will be a special delivery of maple bars, but one has to think, right?) What is guaranteed, in addition to friendship and good times, is a t-shirt that references Stick Rizzs.
Deadline to purchase is May 9 at 5 PM.
“It felt a little more personal with the Mariners fans,” said Paxton on his relationship with the fanbase. “I feel like the other places I went, all they cared about was results, like are you getting the job done, especially in New York. And in Seattle, I felt like they cared about me, and wanted me to do well as much as they wanted the team to do well, and that felt special.”
“I really liked the fans here in Seattle, and they liked me back.”
They really did—especially the Maple Grove, who still keep in contact almost a decade later.
“It was so cool to be part of a thing like that,” said Paxton. “That’s amazing. That’s what it’s all about. To bring people together.”
Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images