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Mariners’ James Paxton hoping fingernail hangups are in the past

Mar 30, 2017, 6:00 AM | Updated: 4:27 pm

James Paxton...

James Paxton said his pesky middle fingernail is "holding on really well" so far in 2017. (AP)

(AP)

LISTEN: Mariners pitcher James Paxton hoping fingernail hangups are in the past

Don’t call it a hangnail.

That pesky middle fingernail issue has not only annoyed Mariners left-hander James Paxton in the sense that it cost him multiple starts over the past two seasons, but also because it doesn’t properly describe the actual injury.

“The thing that’s frustrating is when people call it a hangnail,” Paxton told “Danny, Dave and Moore” Tuesday from Mariners spring training in Arizona. “I’d love to see what people would do if they had the issue going on that I did. The fingernail was actually ripping off of my finger – the entire fingernail. If your hangnail was your entire fingernail then, yeah, that’s what it was. So it’s annoying when it’s belittled to a hangnail, because obviously a hangnail’s nothing.”

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The Mariners have a lot riding on that nail in 2017, as the hope is that Paxton can fulfill his potential as a top-end starter and, ideally, future ace.

As 710 ESPN Seattle’s Shannon Drayer explained last year, Paxton originally tore the nail in a minor-league rehab start on Sept. 2, 2015. The tear wasn’t severe and he returned less than two weeks later, only to have his season ended 11 days later when the nail completely tore away from the nail bed. He returned for the Arizona Fall League throwing only fastballs and changeups to keep the stress produced by his cutter and curveball off the finger. That nail didn’t grow back correctly but held up until it tore off again during an Aug. 31 outing against the Rangers. The Mariners fitted Paxton with an acrylic nail for his next starts.

“When you’ve got 98 mph of pressure coming off one finger, it’s a lot of pressure on one part of your body,” Paxton said. “… It’s frustrating because the rest of your body feels great and it’s just this one little thing that’s holding you back from being who you want to be and being out there on the field.”

While showing his black-and-blue nail to Jim Moore on Tuesday, Paxton said it is “a little bit bruised but it’s been holding on really well.” He said the coloring came because the nail grew back more rounded, which left a little extra space but that the issue was on the side of his finger, which is “all pink and normal” and hanging on better.

“Way better than last season,” he said. “It’s been no issue so far so we’re very optimistic about how it’s gonna turn out.”

Paxton on mental and mechanical approach

Beyond staying healthy, the Mariners are counting on the change in Paxton’s mental and mechanical approach to carry over from his breakout second half of the 2016 season.

Paxton heads into the 2017 season with confidence that he’ll be the pitcher that “everybody thinks I can be,” and is expecting success. That comes in part from confidence he gained following an uptick in consistent velocity after changing his arm slot last year.

“When I first started, I was one of those guys that would throw 92, 93 in the first few innings and then I’d get up to 94, 96 and then I’d pop a few 98s,” he said. “Now, or at least last season, it was one of those things where I was sitting 96 to 98 the entire game. I think my delivery just allowed my body to just work so much easier so it was so much easier for my arm to keep that workload going for the whole game.”

Manager Scott Servais also challenged Paxton to show more emotion on the mound, which Paxton said has been a work in progress but is becoming more natural.

“Starting in the second half, I took the approach of throwing every pitch as hard as I can and keep that aggression, and I felt like I’d hit my spots better when I wasn’t trying to hit my spots,” he said. “I knew where I wanted the ball to go and I’d let it rip. That’s how I found my most success.

“I still have to think about (showing more emotion) at times, but definitely at big spots, I am showing more emotion without thinking about it and I just think as I do it more I’ll get more and more comfortable and kind of keep that coming.”

Paxton said he talks with Mariners director of player development Andy McKay, who has a background as a sports psychologist, about the mental approach of what it takes to be a superstar and how to deal with distractions. That might include pitching on a hot day or with the wind blowing out.

“You have to tell yourself, I love it being hot or when the wind blows out,” Paxton said. “It changes your whole attitude towards what that day is going to be like.”

Paxton said there is a fine line between being humble and cocky.

“You have to see yourself as being that star,” he said. “If you see yourself as being not that great of a player, you’re not going to be that great of a player. It is that confidence and sometimes it’s a very fine line between confident and being cocky. I just think if you carry yourself the right way and treat people with respect, it’s gonna come off the right way.”

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Mariners’ James Paxton hoping fingernail hangups are in the past