Paxton was originally drafted out of Oakhaven High School in Memphis by the New York Yankees in the 1971 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign, choosing instead to attend Memphis State. After four seasons with the Memphis Tigers, in which he was a four-year letter winner under head coach Bobby Kilpatrick, Paxton was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 Major League Baseball draft.\n', '

He debuted with the Red Sox on May 25, 1977, starting the second game of a doubleheader with the Minnesota Twins, as he pitched 2.1 innings to take the loss. For the season, Paxton went 10-5 with a 3.83 earned run average and 58 strikeouts splitting his time as a starter, and out of the bullpen.\n', '

Following his only season with the BoSox, Paxton was dealt to the Cleveland Indians with Ted Cox, Bo Díaz and Rick Wise for Dennis Eckersley and Fred Kendall. His most productive season came in 1978 with Cleveland, when he recorded career-highs in wins (12), strikeouts (96), ERA (3.86), shutouts (2), complete games (5) and innings pitched (191.0). On July 21, 1978, Paxton struck out four batters in the fifth inning of an 11–0 win over the Seattle Mariners.\n', '

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